Helen John, 15, Harmony Art Collective ambassador Fintan Magee, Shafi Amza, 15, and Kadiat Kaday Tarawally, 16, take part in the design and painting of a giant mural at Springfield Lakes Community Centre.
Art workshops are under way in local communities across Australia ahead of Harmony Day on 21 March. Twenty-five students from Redbank Plains State High School have shared their stories, starting a discussion around their experiences and creating a collaborative artwork at the same time.
Redbank Plains State High School student Shafi Amza noticed plenty of differences when he moved from Congo to Australia three years ago.
However, the biggest difference came in the most unlikely of places – on the golf course.
“I liked to play golf in Congo, but it is difficult to play when there is war every day,” he said.
“Someone would say ‘there is a bomb coming’ and we would all run into the house. Now if someone is yelling at you it’s to tell you it’s because a ball is coming.”
Shafi prefers to play soccer these days.
“Playing lots of different sports is much easier here in Australia,” he said.
Shafi was one of 25 students participating in the SBS Learn Harmony Art Collective workshop at Springfield Lakes Community Centre recently.
Contemporary mural artist Fintan Magee is a Harmony Art Collective ambassador and has been working with Ipswich youth on the creation of a large-scale mural.
The Harmony Art Collective is a national initiative between SBS, aMBUSH Gallery and the Department of Social Services (DSS) to bring young people, particularly migrants, refugees and vulnerable youth together to create artworks that express their experiences, cultural identities and promote social cohesion.
Redbank Plains State High School year 10 student Kadiat Kaday Tarawally arrived in Australia from Sierra Leon in November.
“We are making a giant fingerprint and then we are each writing our stories on it,” she explained.
“It’s really cool and after we write our story they are going to take it to Sydney and everyone is going to see it.”
Kadiat was used to a very different style of schooling back in Sierra Leon.
“There are so many things I didn’t have access to there. I had never used a computer before,” she said.
“In my country if you were late or you didn’t know how to spell a word or if you failed an exam, they would hit you. We were not really encouraged to learn.
“Here in Australia there are real opportunities. I’ve found I need encouragement and for someone to push me to keep on going.
“My sentence I created today is about myself and how Australia has changed my life in so many different ways.”
The artwork will head to Sydney for a public exhibition at Darling Quarter to celebrate Harmony Day on 21 March.
This year we have started a department of English as an Additional Language or Dialect so the support for students has become more targeted.
We have introduced classes from years 7 to 10 where students are doing a parallel curriculum that focuses on a lot more language building.
Last week I was approached by SBS to be a part of this project. It’s a very multicultural project and our class fitted into those parameters. We are very excited to be taking part.
They have become a lot more cohesive as a class and even in two days they have really opened up to each other.
The workshop has enabled them to share their stories, which gives them much more empathy for each other, and it has created a very positive feeling among the students.
They have been made to feel very special and appreciated.
The Harmony Art Collective involves a series of eight workshops with young Australians aged 15 to 24 years, many of whom are newly arrived migrants.
Australian artist Luke Cornish (aka E.L.K), illustrator Georgia Hill, urban cartoonist Jeremyville and contemporary mural artist Fintan Magee are the four ambassadors for 2018.
The workshops are currently under way at local community and youth centres around Australia, including Darwin (NT), Westmead-Girraween (NSW), Wyndham (VIC), Mirrabooka (WA), Ipswich (QLD), and Salisbury (SA).
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