ART WORKSHOPS WITH WOMEN

About the Workshops

Auburn Cartographies of Diversity was invited to Saint Joachim’s primary school in Lidcombe to facilitate creative art workshops with a small group of mothers. They had already been meeting for a number of years, with coordinators Sister Johanna Conway and Dorothy Makasa, about basic needs – such as health, housing, children’s development – and now the women were ready for new experiences in self expression.

In a series of six Tuesday afternoon workshops within school time – storytelling, textile art and digital media – the women shared their memories and stories through writing, drawing, personal objects, collage textiles and basic digital animation.

The women had fun while their small children were playing in the same space. Listening to each other’s stories, everyone got to know each other in new creative and personal ways – including Sister Johanna and Dorothy Makasa. Some women remembered stories they had not thought of for a long time. And for the mothers who did not know each other before the workshops, they were no longer just another face in the playground at pick up time!

FACILITATORS:
Paula Abood, Nicole Barakat, Jerome Pearce, Alissar Chidiac

LOCATION:
St Joachim’s Primary School, Lidcombe

Telling Stories

Participants took the opportunity to tell stories about items of significance.

“What I have seen is people going back to their roots and telling their story. It has a lot of meaning and actually going back to childhood and going back to their origins.”
Sister Johanna Conway

“The women shared real stories that came from heart and mind and all came from the community.”
Participant

“Its a beautiful way of community coming together, each one with a story…
…together we can do something really wonderful”
Participant

Speaking about the Workshop Experience

On the afternoon of the last workshop, the women enjoyed interviewing each other, having fun using the audio equipment from the workshops, providing each other with animated feedback and evaluation.

WORKSHOP PROCESS GALLERY

“It’s something we haven’t done before. It is amazing to see how things progress… We are achieving something together as a community, telling our story and thats the main thing”
Participant

CREATIVE OUTCOME: STORY OF OUR VILLAGE