Since it first opened in November 2022 on Woodlark Street, the Living Lab has hosted a number of informative exhibitions. In fact, the opening exhibition on that night provided examples of how other flood-affected cities around the world use various mitigation methods, early warning systems, voluntary buyouts, and more.

Community meetings, business meetings, and experiments have been held to discuss how our community can move forward. It has been an incubator of ideas for rebuilding Lismore and the Northern Rivers.

The Living Lab's latest exhibition will have a strong emotional impact on our community. It does not look ahead but in the rearview mirror.

Living Memory: Stories and Portraits Celebrating North Lismore will showcase 72 local portraits and share 15 flood stories through recorded historic interviews. It will create a digital archive of the biggest flood to hit our community and preserve the stories for future generations. 

Living Memory was developed in collaboration with 45 community members. It documents personal experiences and local histories, reflecting the social, cultural and environmental changes that have shaped the area over time.

The project emerged in response to community calls to preserve the heritage of North Lismore and its community as it gets set for a new and very different future.

The Living Memory: Stories and Portraits Celebrating North Lismore exhibition opens tonight at 5pm at the Living Lab shopfront, 11 Woodlark Street and runs until Thursday, August 7.

This gives the community seven weeks to visit the Living Lab to listen to fifteen 10 to 20-minute oral stories that can be listened to at booths at the exhibition, and view the portraits that will adorn the walls, each telling their own story.

The Living Memory project collaborators include:

• Adele Wessell – Historian with 30 years of experience in the Northern Rivers
• Cherine Fahd – Leading photographic artist and Associate Professor at UTS
• Elise Derwin – Award-winning photographer based on Bundjalung Country
• Jeanti St Clair – Audio documentarian and lecturer at Southern Cross University

Living Memory: Stories and Celebrating North Lismore exhibition details:

Opening: Thursday 19 June 2025, 5.00pm — 6.30pm,

Living Lab Northern Rivers shopfront: 11 Woodlark Street, Lismore.

Viewing Time: 19 June to 7 Aug 2025, Tuesday to Thursday from 1 to 4pm.