A Caring Portrait – 2015

Four artists. Ten carers.

 

Many stories. One exhibition.

 

 

 

Weight I’m trying to hold for you/

a gift I’m trying to save for you/

these words I try to tame for you//

poem by @lylyee

 

 

A Caring Portrait was a micro community arts and cultural development project bringing together individuals with a caring role as a collaborating partner with professional artists. Together the artists and participants created fantasy portraits, which celebrate and share the diversity and strength of what lays beneath the exterior of individuals in a caring role. The project was commissioned by Carer Support and proudly supported by the Australian Government HACC (Home and Community Care) Program.

 

As an artist and maker and as a person I’m particularly fascinated by the secret dreams everyone has for themselves and how these dreams influence our daily lives and stories. And the tension between who we are inside and who we sometimes need to be for others which is especially relevant when you have a caring role. And so with A Caring Portrait I really hoped that the project could be an invitation for the participating carers to share their stories and hopes with us and that in some small way the end product would celebrate and document the diversity and strength of the amazing carers that are part of the Carer Support community.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

(…)

 

“It reminded me of what is important and what I would like to achieve for myself,” she said.

 

By shifting the focus from her family to herself, Danielle felt the process began to motivate her to think about areas of her life that she may have previously not been able to make time for.

 

“It was empowering,” Danielle said.

 

(…)

 

– Brett Williamson 891 ABC Adelaide (full article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-01/mother-and-daughter-carers-empowered-by-face-painting-project/6512278)

 

 

 

My cake collection baked a fierce feminist/

I am she/

she is me/

I accept//

poem by @lylyee

 

 

L – R: Siobhan, Alysha, Vanessa, Brianna

*

A Caring Portrait

 

February to May 2015

 

Alysha Herrmann – Creative Producer and Poet (@lylyee)

 

Vanessa Kalderovskis –Body and Face Artist

 

Siobhan Fearon – Photographer

 

Brianna Obst – Assistant artist

 

Collaborating Carers:

Marissa Wilkinson

Jessica Scoble

Penelope Monk

Vanessa Kalderovskis

Danielle Crew

Jade Teigeler

Dianne Hill

Mark Woodhouse

Jacinta Woodhouse

Joshua Stokes

 

 

Thank you to all of the fantastic staff at Carer Support who supported this project and for their ongoing passion for the work they do of caring for carers.

 

In particular thank you to Carer Support staff Marg, Tina, Julie and Josh for initiating the project with Alysha and Vanessa and collaborating with the artists to see it come to life.

 

You can see the final exhibition of photography and poetry at the Southern Carer Support Centre, 241B Main South Road Morphett Vale during office hours.

 

Photographer Siobhan Fearon shared some beautiful blog thoughts into the process along the way, which you can find here: http://siobhanfearon.weebly.com/blog/category/acaringportrait

 

The Third Place, Creative Producer

I’ve been employed by Carclew as the Creative Producer of ExpressWay Arts, a joint initiative of City of Onkaparinga since July 2013.

ExpressWay Arts is an umbrella term which covers a series of philosophically connected projects and artistic interventions with young people living in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. My approach as Creative Producer has been to develop three core strategies to nurture young artistic and cultural leaders in this region:

• initiating, nurturing and investing in a youth arts ensemble making socially engaged performance work (Kids Against Humanity)
• commissioning and developing a series of projects/outcomes with artists that happen in public space and explore the boundaries of ‘open art making’ with young people in these spaces (examples include The Third Place and My Beautiful Radio Station)
• developing foundation relationships with Aboriginal young people and local cultural leaders to amplify the artistic voices of Aboriginal young people (including a pilot Yarning Group project in collaboration with Christies Beach High School in 2016)

I have a commitment to nurturing young people who have faced barriers to arts access/expression and in other areas of their lives and as a result many of our projects are socially challenging (for professional artists and young artists, for our community and our audiences) and operate as both artistic experiences and platforms for youth advocacy/development.

The Third Place (2016)

An audio theatre work in Ramsay Place, Noarlunga Centre

Created by Brienna Macnish

Sound design and composition by Robert D Jordan

Creative Producer Alysha Herrmann

The Third Place would not exist without everyone who shared their stories about the Green Area. Thank you to Ashley Yeo-Megeny, Kyle Whennan, Tyler Turnbull, Portia Clark, Jayda Harwood, Jessie McGrath, Tammy Dean, Molly Wilson, Lou Rankine, Bonnie Goergens, Jake Waring, Taylea Fry, Alan Jones, Sebby “Kitty” Rivera, Eryka Burns, Brandon Hogben and Jessica Salter.

Residency: 17-21 February 2016

Listening Sessions: 8-17 April 2016 (Youth Week)

Third Places are welcoming and open to anyone and everyone, they are the places we go to meet with the people we know and perhaps with people we don’t. But what happens when individuals or communities don’t have the social, cultural or financial capital to feel comfortable in these Third Places? What happens when people – especially young people – try and create Third Places for themselves? – Brienna Macnish

Audience feedback:

“You look at them (young people) and think one thing about them and then you hear their stories and you get a better understanding of what issues and struggles they’re dealing with.”

“It’s important to have adults hear this work and understand us better.”

“Loved it. It was awesome.”

“It was great / challenging / intriguing / almost voyeuristic feeling to do it in the space and watch the area from a distance and understand the full context. It was intimate and public all at once, and that’s what that space came across as for those young people who inhabit it.”

“I found it really thought provoking and it challenged my preconceived ideas of why people would ‘hang out’ all day at Colonnades. While I still think there are other options, the work helped me understand how and why people can spiral into this lifestyle.”

“I was privileged to experience The Third Place at an afternoon session on Friday 8 April. I was keen to experience the work because I knew that Alysha Herrmann had selected the artists and my expectation was that the work would be successful. It surpassed my expectation, due in part to the fact that as participants/listeners we were in situ – we could hear the work in our ears and see Ramsay Place in action in front of our eyes. I was surprised by the number of times I found myself being impressed by the vitality, bravery and foresight of the young participants who were interviewed. (…) I would strongly urge anyone to experience the work and also to engage Alysha and Brienna to undertake similar processes with other communities or sectors of the community in need.” – Anthony Peluso, Country Arts SA

Other photos of current and past ExpressWay Arts projects can be seen on the ExpressWay Arts instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/expresswayarts/

Futher detail on recent ExpressWay Arts projects here: http://carclew.com.au/Program/ExpressWay#

 

**

Another Elusive Maybe

“Amidst all the rabble about the true meaning of Fringe, I can tell you that this is it. Real art that pushes the boundaries – art that is completely different to anything you’ve experienced before.” Jen St Jack, Great Scott

 

Every show performed in a different lounge room. A one woman theatre experiment asking “How can we feel so alone surrounded by people who love us?”

 

“The sound of a baby crying

The sound of a kettle boiling

The sound of a dog howling

The sound of a closing door”

 

 

Another Elusive Maybe was a performance experiment presented as part of the Adelaide Fringe 2016. Each ‘show’ was presented in a different (real life) lounge-room for a maximum of 8 people per show. The performance incorporated poetry & soundscape (via silent disco headsets), live text message conversations (with each individual audience member) and expressing breast milk.

 

What does motherhood, sleep deprivation, breastfeeding and mummy worries have to say about how we all connect in a world overloaded with sorrow?

 

“Nine people – performer and audience – sit in a suburban lounge room. We are ostensibly together, hearing the same words and seeing and doing the same things. We are intimate, and yet, we are isolated.” – Jenn St Jack, Great Scott

 

“There are so many simple, yet sophisticated layers to this wonderfully human work providing deep food for thought about the issues Herrmann set out to explore and experiment on. You feel comforted by what you hear, because the delivery takes the sting out of the real struggle those words are dealing with, as much as you love the genuine warmth and joy there too. Equally, because of this, you feel at ease anonymously having a frank and honest discussion about some deep things. You are in a comforting place known to most, a lounge room.” – David O’Brien, The Barefoot Review

 

Anonymous audience feedback (via text message)

“A BIG WoW!!! Thankyou!!! Really made me think….and feel! x”

“Wow. I’m literally blown away by how you guys create art. Like what makes you think this is the way I want to perform this story!! Yes well job well done!!! I hope you feel proud to try and make your way through this fucked up beautiful world!!”

“I really enjoyed it and I think I talked to my partner about it longer than it went for. I read the whole leaflet afterwards. Even yesterday. And that’s the thing with art and with what you did, you don’t know how long it lasts or when it takes hold. (….) I like that you talked about what we (I) think about. (…) Thanks again, so much for the inspiration. You at least made a difference here.”

“How do you this with kids? It must nearly break you surely. I feel like crying right now. From inspiration and appreciation, sadness for what I’m not doing. (….) Thank you for sharing. I loved and appreciated it. Hugely.”

“Impressed with your ability to maintain mulit threads of convo. I keep forgetting to listen while typing/reading. Which in itself is interesting..”

“This (your performance) is the strangest combination of intimate yet distant, personal yet remote, familiar yet unusual. Fascinating.”

“Very tightly structured, rich, densely packed with poetic fantasy and reality.”

 

 

Another Elusive Maybe

By Alysha Herrmann & Ryan Morrison

Public season, Adelaide Fringe 2016

16 & 23rd February, 8th March

Various lounge rooms.

Another Elusive Maybe Program Zine PDF

Listen to the headset audio from AEM: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2q9aa1fwf80rmvo/Another%20Elusive%20Maybe%20%28Final%20Draft%29.mp3?dl=0

 

Interview with The Upside News, which sheds light on the impetus and ideas behind Another Elusive Maybe: https://theupsidenews.com/2016/02/11/interview-another-elusive-maybe-the-fringe-show-in-your-lounge-room/

Great Scott Review by Jen St Jack: http://greatscott.media/2016/03/09/another-elusive-maybe/

The Barefoot Review by David O’Brien:http://www.thebarefootreview.com.au/menu/theatre/119-2014-adelaide-reviews/1292-another-elusive-maybe.html

*