Volunteer an extra day? No Problem! Will I help on your open day? YES! Id love to!…. Jeanette we really need you the week after next ….. I’ll be there!
Through the rain on a Saturday morning I head down to the Bundanon open day. I wonder if the event is still on, but I am confident that all the preparation that has gone into the event will probably mean it will go ahead regardless of the weather.
Today I get to work in a slightly different role meeting new people. First off I am at the front of house tent with John, Jen and Chris. These are people I have seen around Bundanon but have had little opportunity to get to know. Meeting them on a more casual basis was delightful and I feel that this is where I shine.
Community groups gathered on site and erected exhibition gazebos.
Welcome to country was performed by a local indigenous elder and then his son Richard sung in language to mother earth; it sent a shiver down your spine. There is something noble and dignified about singing to an audience in a language that most of them don’t understand, while it seems to set itself apart from the rest ( theory of other perhaps) it simultaneously embraces the giving of the language to outsiders. To me it’s quite an abstract and intimate form of communication. It certainly had the wow factor in my books.
There was a reptile man there who stole the show with his snakes just freely slithering across tables and people were able to touch them. Friends of the brushtail wallaby were also there along with other environmental groups and the environment was the focus of the day. Guest speakers gave talks on landcare, frogs and other pressing and interesting environmental issues.
I got to meet this wonderful lady who was staying with the Deborah, CEO of Bundanon. We struck up a conversation as she was a Brazilian artist and was here with her mother and my son Daniel is off to Brazil next week. It turns out that she has a large immersive light installation for ‘VIVID’ right outside the MOCA….depiciting a heart beating and pulse, titled ‘Heart of the City’ … her name is Ana Isa Franjco. Here is a link to her Blog with an image from the blog. This creative work will be an interactive public sculpture that pulses according to the participants pulse. the piece aims to bring people closer together and create a heart in the city where people can gather sharing their heart beat with the heart beats of others.
WOW…..with my recent heart investigations that is relevant to me! I wonder what would happen if I sat on the sculpture????? they would probably call an ambulance!!!!! ( I have an irregular heart beat )
http://anaisafranco.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/the-heart-of-city-at-vivid-sydney-2015.html
I also met other people from around the place on a casual and in passing way.Everyone joins in to make it a successful day regardless of the weather. We are a team and at Bundanon I feel like a team player. I like teams. I am not a believer in hierarchy. I believe that all people have the same potential and sometimes opportunity plays an important role in where you end up in life. Position means nothing to me but friendship and making meaningful connections does. I prefer the gentle softly travelled way. Although I may seem confident to those who don’t really know me, years of submission or oppression have taken their toll. This is why I love Bundanon, it is a place where I feel safe and nurtured.
An Internship at Bundanon with Jeanette Riley 