‘Don’t keep history a mystery’ was the theme of an art competition showcasing the work of students from across the Latrobe Valley to celebrate Reconciliation Week.
Hosted by Anglicare Victoria and Latrobe City Library in Moe, Anglicare community development officer and co-chair of Anglicare Gippsland’s Reconciliation Action Plan committee Cathrine Muston said the competition was a way the community could acknowledge Reconciliation Week and help children build their cultural understanding.
“The art exhibition is important because you can’t have reconciliation without people actually coming together for activities and celebrations of culture and shared history,” she said.
“Indigenous and non-Indigenous students have contributed the art, [as] with reconciliation it is important that we are talking together and we are trying to understand things together.”
The library has been hosting art show workshops on the theme of reconciliation in the lead-up to the competition, and students from many different schools across the region entered artworks with explanations about what the pieces mean.
“The thing that impresses me is that when an Aboriginal child talks about their art there is often deep meaning in it,” Ms Muston said.
“It might look quite simple but there is often a really deep meaning behind it.
“Because a lot of [the students] have done [their artwork] at home or at school, some of them have come to the art show workshops that Jaslyn Morris ran here at the library, and really it was just thinking about what it might be to have reconciliation. The kids were basically given some paint and said ‘go for it’.”
With about 40 entries to the competition, Ms Muston said it would allow space for conversation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children and adults around meaning and shared history.
“Reconciliation Week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the relationship we share with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community,” she said.
“It also enables us to encourage our children to reflect on what reconciliation might mean for them and to provide an audience for their artwork.”
