22 Feb My Place
My Place is a celebration of story – an annual campfire event at Bourke’s Festival of 1000 Stories that showcases words and images that reflect connections to remote landscapes
My Place is an inclusive neighbourhood project that aims to broaden community connections and challenge the dominant narrative in Australian arts, literature and imagination that ‘the bush’ and ‘the outback’ are the realm of rugged men and bush poets – although of course these stories are integral to and, in some ways, even shape the whole.
The workshops develop creative instincts, empower individuals, connect communities, reflect resilience and explore the power of story to shape a person’s life and wellbeing.
My Place events are held in small communities in remote areas that culminate in, for example, anthologies, exhibitions, public art (such as Coonamble’s Nickname Hall of Fame) and of course the ongoing celebratory campfire the Festival of 1000 Stories.
My Place celebrates:
Collaborative storytelling – a collective, observable, public story of place and identity
Visibility – assert a sense of self in relation to place, connection
Courage and confidence – the right to see and be seen
Validation – I exist
Celebration – we exist.
