Lounge room dance-offs and translating song into Bundjalung language were two of the 11 inspiring projects created by local young people for the recent Together//Alone project.

Artists in isolation through the Covid-19 social distancing period were called to create art for the Lismore Quad and Lismore Regional Gallery - and were offered micro-grants to explore ways to creatively respond to adversity and keep connected to community in a socially distanced world.

Lovemore Dance Off – Iso-style by Katie Cooper-Wares, Artist, arts facilitator and environmental educator.

Participating artists did not need to present complete works over the short two-week ‘isolation residencies’ (although some did), the focus was on developing creative projects, documenting the process and connecting online.

The 21 young artists chosen to participate were Brett Canning, Katie Cooper-Wares, Philip Channells, Sean Campbell, Robbie Alejandro Tinning, Annie Tinning, Kevin Privett, Ariel Cameron, Rich Stone, Beki Davies, Elvis Callaghan, Dave Hickson, Karenza Ebejer, Tim Fry, Tania Marlowe, Lisa Walker, Jo Kambourian, Kate Stroud and Sigrid Macdonald.

Lismore Quad’s Placemaking Officer Jane Fuller said “we had an amazing response from so many wonderful diverse artists across the Northern Rivers with over 50 applications”.

“The creativity is truly awe-inspiring. Art and culture is so very crucial to our sense of community, it’s what has kept us connected through some very difficult times," she said.

“We’d like to thank all the artists as well as Create NSW for making the grants possible.”

You can view the Together//Alone projects at http://www.lismorequad.org.au

See the art

Reflected Hope by Tim Fry

"This project is about gathering and sharing hope as described by local community members. Tim is collaborating with local individuals who have lived through different types of hardship and recording their stories of hope.

"These stories will be shared digitally in conjunction with time lapse videos of artwork which Tim will create as responses to these stories.

"The process will be about respectfully exploring hope from other people’s firsthand experiences and translating them into artworks. The outcome will be digital videos of artwork emerging in response to verbal descriptions of hope, as it relates to individual lived experiences.

Yilaa Munaa by Tania Marlowe - Aboriginal Artist and Culture Worker.

Yilaa Munaa meaning (Where is) is a Bundjalung Language version of Where is Thumb-kin and will be sung in Bundjalung. Yilaa Munaa will be sung in reference to significant family members apart from Mum & Dad.

Yilaa Munaa will be shared digitally for the local & broader community members from a culturally and linguistically diverse background who can connect and engage with Yilaa Munaa. It is an opportunity for all to be inspired to the Bundjalung Culture and Language.

About the featured artwork Post Normal at the top of this story:

‘Post-Normal’ is a collaborative project undertaken by four Northern Rivers artists – Rich Stone, Beki Davies, Dave Hickson & Elvis Callaghan, during the 'stay at home' period of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

The goal of this project is to create (& document) a single, free standing artwork that is developed sequentially in distinct, separate, isolated stages by each of the artists. 

The process will be recorded and then developed into a video art piece, as an integral component of the work. 

Upon receiving the artwork, each artist is free to interpret and add to the piece without constraint, but with perhaps an aim to maintain a sense of group cohesion and purpose for the work. 

The transit and hand-over of the work from artist to artist will follow all social distancing protocols.