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Artist Ann McDermott delivered FABULOUS! for her community in Mooral Creek in the Manning Valley.
Held at the local community hall over three Saturdays in August, participants explored the phoenix fable, symbolic of new beginnings and took part in diverse art forms of storytelling, poetry, origami, paper-and-bamboo lantern-making and drumming providing expressive means to recount and reframe the experiences of the Black Summer bushfire disaster.
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The workshop sessions culminated with the community’s Winter Feast, where the poetry prints were framed and exhibited at the hall, as well as a lantern parade and drumming circle. Residents contributed a shared meal and the men of the community cooked with camp ovens in the fire pit.
A regular event that had not taken place for three years, in the wake of drought, bushfire and covid restrictions, the Winter Feast was an evening that brought the whole community together to reflect and celebrate.
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Images: Ann McDermott
A Creative Recovery project supported by Arts Mid North Coast and made possible through the joint Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, Resilience NSW and FRRR (Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal).