Rockingham Arts Centre | exhiBITION 27 Nov - 8 Dec 2024

This project was awarded one of two 2024 Artist-in-Residence places at the Rockingham Arts Centre with public exhibition from 27th November - 8th Dec, 10am - 4pm (excluding Mondays and Tuesdays). Wise Young Things: Rockingham is an intergenerational storytelling film project connecting local young people with senior citizens born outside Australia who now reside in the Rockingham area. It is a celebration of young and old, and of the breadth and diversity of experiences and people that make up the fabric of the Rockingham community.

Through storytelling workshops, senior citizens were facilitated to share memories and anecdotes from their lives with young performers aged 13 - 18. There was a focus on place, immigration, family, friends, language, culture, and changing technology. Audio of these stories was recorded, edited, and curated by the Artist. This was followed by a series of performance workshops in which young people built vital 21st Century skills and learnt theatrical techniques from practitioners such as Lecoq and Laban. Using the audio recordings from the storytelling sessions as the soundtrack, each performer created their own nuanced lip-sync performance, paying attention to physicality and character. These were filmed in distinct and recognisable places in the Rockingham area and edited the film. This verbatim project combines oral storytelling with modern technology and performance, namely filmed lip-syncing, popularised in recent years by social media. It is a meeting of old and new, of past and future – pushing the boundaries of how we communicate narrative, present character, and create pathos.

Both the storytelling and performance workshops were developed in alignment with the Telethon Kids Institute's Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) and the Arts framework. The process is as important as the output in this project, which aims to increase SEWB in all project participants and encourage connection between generations. Underpinning this unique visual arts film exhibition is the idea that communities are strengthened and wellbeing is improved with the opportunity to build relationships between generations, increase empathy towards immigrant and second-generation experiences, and engage in quality arts activities.

This is a community project made possible by the generosity and willingness of our storytellers to share their lives with us, and by the dedication and empathy of the performers to take on the responsibility of embodying these stories. Thank you.  

Beyond this exhibition at Rockingham Arts Centre, the Artist has developed a written resource available for schools and community groups which serves as a blueprint to run the project in your local area. More info: please contact Asha at ashacluer@gmail.com