Ties That Bind was a community weaving project, facilitated by Jasmine Avery of Ulong. Residents of the Eastern Dorrigo community in the Coffs Coast hinterland came together over two weekend workshops to learn how to weave their own unique circle using handmade and locally sourced, re-purposed materials. An extra workshop was held for the kids at the local school so they could contribute to the artwork.

The 56 individual pieces were then joined together in a custom-made frame to visually demonstrate the diverse fabric that makes up a community. The artwork now lives permanently at the Ulong Hall for community members to enjoy, providing a beautiful reminder of what they can achieve when working together!

This project was funded by the Bushfire Community Recovery & Resilience Fund via Arts Mid North Coast’s creative recovery grant program and had an aim to bring people to together to use creativity to reconnect, reflect and heal from the past few years of hardships due to bushfires, COVID and flooding. During the workshops there were talks from local RFS members and First Responders who shared their wisdom and experience about providing services to these isolated mountain communities in times of disaster.