GOSSAMER ROADS
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Late last year, Ross Barber from Access Arts contacted me with a proposal to create a pilot documentary about a very interesting community arts event called the Salaam project that was being initiated by IWAQ, Access Arts and Arts Queensland. I readily agreed and embarked on a journey to get to know some lovely new friends.
The Salaam Project is an arts-based collaboration that hosts a number of dynamic workshops led by Muslim women artists and craftswomen living in and around Brisbane.
The Salaam Project is an arts-based collaboration that hosts a number of dynamic workshops led by Muslim women artists and craftswomen living in and around Brisbane.
The workshops are freely offered as a way of stimulating the wider community's interest in the diverse cultures and traditions of Islam.
The workshops have been fully attended by members of the Muslim community as well as women and children from the wider community, and it's been delightful to see so many positive interactions, all of which are opening doors to better understanding and integration across communities in Brisbane.
One of the strongest features of the workshops has been the opportunity to demystify many customary aspects of Muslim women's culture, whereby women can get to know each other, simply as people; as mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers and aunties, and to discover that we all enjoy Fausia's delicious cakes!
Each of the artists represents her own cultural traditions, which includes some of the beautiful traditions of Egypt, Iran, Bosnia, Sudan, Lebanon, South Africa and beyond, and in addition each of the artists is also very talented at drawing forth rich discussion and cultural expression from the participants.
Each of the artists represents her own cultural traditions, which includes some of the beautiful traditions of Egypt, Iran, Bosnia, Sudan, Lebanon, South Africa and beyond, and in addition each of the artists is also very talented at drawing forth rich discussion and cultural expression from the participants.
This makes for a very beautiful tapestry of creative ideas. The workshops run for ten weeks and include sketching and painting with Salam El-Merebi and Sudabeh Ramhormoz, weaving and crochet from Aida and Nagia Khalaf, children's art classes with Shamime Mustapha, Mehndi (henna hand painting) with Sumaiya Latif, and Bosnian dancing with Sevkija Hodzic.
The artworks will also be included in an exhibition, curated by the project's manager Mandana Mapar and destined to tour around Australia in 2009. The documentary will be a record of this very stimulating and enjoyable event.
acrylic painting The Filigree by Teone 2008
The Edge is a performance
development class project currently in production at ACPA (the
Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts) in Brisbane. All characters and stories are completely ficticious and not based on any real persons or events. Framed in a
typical TV series formula, The Edge reveals the stories of a group of
young people woven together in a web of plots and sub-plots. Each
weekly episode is self-broadcast in a no-budget, wobble-cam/pop-up
drama production, creating it's own
sub-cultural outlet for script ideas to be workshopped. Working with
very limited technical resources, The Edge strives to push performance
skills to compensate for absent production values and is a creative
collaboration in experimental ideas aimed at developing strong ability
in improvisation,
screen-acting for television, script writing, and
provides basic technical foundations in digital media applications.
Students are
given basic plot outlines and 30 mins to prepare a script and rehearse
their scenes for the shoot. Cameras are hand-held domestic digital
videocam, audio has been recorded on board (this week we borrowed a
Zoom H2 stereo recorder and the Sony PD170). As the project skills
develop, we aim to seek better equipment and produce quality episodes,
whereby evidence of the learning process is captured and revised. The
project fosters the notion of immediate response methods of dramatic
interpretation and is an unfolding work in progress...stay tuned!
The Edge features
improvised performance by current students of ACPA including Jermaine,
Janette, Howard, Lakkari, Kaine, Jonathon, Howard, Triks, Andrew,
Brooke, Marion, Jeremy, Tennille & Bobbie.
1st AD - Grace
Camera operators - Sharni and Robbie
The Edge Beatbox theme by Triks - Edgy music by Phoebe & Mischa
Training, Project Concept, Direction & Editing by Teone
The Edge Beatbox theme by Triks - Edgy music by Phoebe & Mischa
Training, Project Concept, Direction & Editing by Teone
All production stills by Grace ©2008
BUKAL BUNYA YARRABURRA
Black Women of Yarrabah
Aunty Flo Watson
Highlights from the recent
Women's leadership training
hosted in Yarrabah 2008