Last week I was lucky enough to be at a conference in Darwin and I did a pre-conference workshop with the talented author Nadia Wheatley . If you know ” My Place” you have a sense of her awareness of the importance of place. To my surprise and joy I ended up spending most of the day drawing . It was a surprise as this was an English conference. Nadia taught us about Circle Stories and I had an amazing time making my own and delving into my childhood memories in both images and words.. These maps of country were very much about a heart based approach. It makes me think of the idea that we have 2 minds. 1 that is head and logical and the other that is heart and emotion❤️. I have not fully completed my circle story by adding photos etc…as I was meant to so on my return however it is great inspiration for my art class. I am using this idea and the narrative story mixed media art work of Anne E Quinley to create an introductory unit of work for my year 7 and 8 art class. So I have been going back through the ideas and images and thought I would share the basic idea. I will add some more images to the learning page once students have completed the task.
Seeing the new film Charlie’s Country’ today reinforced the whole idea of country as the centre of everything. Such. A different way of thinking to Western thinking. I took this photo (above) in Darwin and for me it brings back that sense of ngurra (country) and the depth of this amazing culture
As Nadia prompted me to ask…I will now ask you: where is your ‘place’ now and where was it when you were a child? How would you create a heart map of your place…your country?