The WOW Launch - Saturday 22nd June 2013

Back row: (LtoR) Harrison Htoo Po Kyaut, Bernad Ngendakumana, Mars Drum, Shauna Stringer, Yasmin Harradine
Middle row: Abraham Rajput, Hozaira Ahmad, Madhu Annathurai, P'Leah Htoo Po Kyaut, Buket Akiz, Yaren Akiz
Front row:  Soe Son Di Shwe Ta Lee, Sarah Htoo Po Kyaut
Absent: Yvonne Ndayikeze, Tina Kalenzo, Sentia Kamikaze 

Bernad Ngendakumana quotes: "Life is a journey. I'm glad it has brought me to Horsham"  
This has been installed now in stainless steel at the entrance to the library.

Madhu Annathurai, stunning in her Tamil dress: 
"Two countries so far apart, Yet both are homes in my heart"

Soe Son Di, looking so fabulous in her traditional Karen dress: 

"I know I belong when I feel calm and safe. I feel safe in Horsham"

Yaren Akiz, whose "My house is beautiful. My heart is warm. I love it here." is now installed on a seat in Firebrace St. There I am trying to remember exactly how Yaren's piece goes...

P'Leah Htoo Po Kyaut poses in her traditional Karen dress beside her seat: "In my world, every day, everybody would greet each other with a smile"

How could anyone not smile back at P'Leah?

We will be taking more photos of the WOW writers beside their work as it is installed around Horsham.... Watch out for Buket, Sarah, Harrison,Tina, Shauna, Bernad, Yasmin and Yvonne.

Abraham Rajput with his dad, Magbool Ahmad, stand in front of Abraham's quotation on the Army Lane wall: "I remember my talent when I come here". Councillor Mark Radford was so impressed with Abraham's discovery that he has offered to personally pay for a new plaque to be made up with Abraham's words on it, and installed on a seat in Firebrace St.

Yasmin Harradine takes the microphone to read out her quotation:"I love learning about my culture", which graces the front of the Horsham library in stainless steel. Yasmin gave an important speech at the launch, welcoming all recent migrants in the WOW group and their families to Horsham. It was a very special and significant moment in Horsham's history, I think. Here are her words:
Hi, my name is Yasmin Harradine, I am Indigenous, and I am Wotjobaluk.

I was born in Horsham, the country of my ancestors.

I ‘belong to this land’ of the Wotjobaluk, the river, the trees, the sky and the air that we all share. 

I would like to welcome everyone here today to the launch of the WoW Project. I have made many friends with different cultural backgrounds during the WoW project, I WELCOME YOU and YOUR FAMILIES. 

Delki njaui means good day in Wergaia the language of my people.

Thank-you to Councillor Mark Radford and John Martin for their photos.

WOW LAUNCH ON TOMORROW!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Writing on the Walls project is being launched tomorrow at 11a.m. in Army Lane, Horsham . That's Saturday the 22nd June 2013. See you there. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 

WOW Installations

 Work begins on installing Buket Akiz's written piece on the side wall of the library. It's a difficult and slow process, and we realise that this installation process of all of the WOW poetry will not be finished in just a couple of days as estimated in the original plan. Some bricks are denser than other bricks. These ones on the library wall are particularly dense.

There is another line to this couplet by Buket Akiz, it will be installed next week if all goes well with Plan B. 
Looks great, doesn't it?

Already there have been a lot of positive comments about it from members of Horsham's public.

Below are some more images of the library car-park WOW wall, which looks so fabulous in the morning sunlight. I know I've posted some detailed images of this wall up already, but the sunlight makes such a difference, the colours are really fantastic!

Horsham Library Wall - Part 2

Session 2 on the Horsham Library Wall, and it's full already! This week, the WOW team focused on enhancing the wall: filling the gaps, colouring, and adding final messages. 

We had Shauna Stringer join us again this week, to add the Irish flavour to the library wall, as she did on the Army Lane wall. 

Congratulations to the WOW team, it's getting pretty cold after 5pm these days, but the WOW walls continue! Army Lane was enhanced on Tuesday, Library wall Thursday. 

We have one more wall-writing session at Army Lane next Tuesday, to make it look as bright and beautiful as possible for the launch. Come on down to Cafe Thipatiy next Saturday, 22nd June, at 11am. Meet the WOW writers and their families, come on a walking tour of the installed WOW words around the CBD, and enjoy some food catered by the wonderful Cafe Thipatiy staff.

Shauna Stringer asks us how we are in Irish.

Harrison and P'Leah entertain us with a song and dance, Soe Son Di joining in. The spirits are always very high at the WOW wall writing sessions, it's always a good laugh. 

NEWSFLASH!!

The WOW group is on the ABC News Channel this morning at 9.55am, and again at 8.55pm. We made it to National Television!! WOW!

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HORSHAM LIBRARY WALL from last Thursday, to be completed by the WOW team and our new participants!

 It was a fantastic WOW session at the Library last Thursday...we had quite a lot of visitors dropping in to make their mark on the wall. It was hard to find a space to write even after just one hour. 

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Horsham Library Carpark Wall: A Public Write Off!!!

We love Horsham Library! The Horsham Library staff has agreed to let us write on their wall...woohoo! 

Here is the WOW team, preparing the library wall last Thursday for this Thursday's Public Write Off! That's Thursday the 6th June 2013. 

It's the Art Is... Festival week, so everyone is invited to write with us on Thursday. Come and write what it means to you to Belong to this Land.

The WOW team has coloured in the base of the wall, the writing goes above the coloured base. It's heaps of fun, come along and make your mark!

WOWing up Horsham!

The Army Lane WOW wall is looking FABULOUS!!

 A great new poet for Horsham:  Harrison Htoo Po Kyaut

Harrison is 12 years of age, and attends Horsham College. He has contributed so much to the WOW sessions, not only in writing his amazing poetry up on Army Lane wall and colouring his brick borders so beautifully, but also Harrison has provided much honest and valuable information to the rest of the WOW group at the Mibus Centre on Thursdays.....information on life in Thai refugee camps, and then arriving in Werribee, where he lived before coming to Horsham. He says that while Horsham is very safe, which makes life much more comfortable, that it is also very serious. A little more music and colour in the street would perhaps liven this old town up. Well, Army Lane is a good way to get this all rolling, Harrison. Thanks for being such a fantastic WOWer!

Above is a shot of Sarah Htoo Po Kyaut, six year old sister of P'Leah and Harrison. Sarah has been so terrific in colouring in bricks in Army Lane, she has a real sense of colour and pattern matching! The wall really needed her assistance to look as good as it does, thank-you for your help, Sarah! 

Above P'Leah Htoo Po Kyaut, aged 10, and Soe Son Di Shwe Ta Lee, aged 11. These two young writers have been completely inspiring for the others in the group, they have a rare ability to describe their innermost feelings so honestly and poetically ... and like Harrison, their stories on their old lives are so important for us all to hear. These two thoughtful WOW participants agree with Harrison, that life is great in Horsham because it is so safe, which is such a massive relief compared with living in overcrowded refugee camps in Thailand....but why are the walls of shops and houses all coloured in pale browns? Why aren't houses painted in attractive colours? Why does everyone use more or less the same colour paint? Are the houses trying to reflect the colours of the sand or dirt around Horsham? (Readers, please feel free to answer these questions or comment below the post.) 

Look at the Karen flag in the photo of Soe Son Di above. See how the blue faded after the rainfall? Soe Son Di is wiping some of the chalk drips off. And look at how Soe Son Di coloured it all back in so the flag looks as good as new (below)...Good Work, Soe Son Di, it looks fantastic!

 Soe Son Di is such a hard worker. Here she is rubbing off all the accidental chalk marks around the wall. Everybody had left for the afternoon on that Saturday, but Soe Son Di made sure there was nothing left unfinished before leaving. 

On the left in the photo above is Tallula Harradine-Hodge, our latest  particpant to join the WOW club. Tallula is a cousin of Yasmine Harradine,  and I really hope she can come again on a Saturday to work on the wall. 

 Yaren Akiz doesn't just work on her own words and colours, she also helps out anyone who needs a spare colouring hand or two. Here are two beautiful shots of Yaren as the assistant colouring artist. Beautiful work, Yaren!

 I love this shot of the WOW group before they settle into a smiling pose for the media shoot. Priceless facial expressions!

Madhu Annathurai has put up her latest poem on the wall, which is poignantly beautiful. I know Madhu feels very strong links with her home country of India, and I'm not surprised. About 21 years ago, I spent six fantastic months travelling around India, and I loved this country so much that I had to go back for a few more months the following year! Must be so hard at times, to feel split between two homes of the heart. 

 Another giant thank-you to Soe Son Di, here she's washing the crushed pieces of chalk off the pavement before we go home, so the workers using the lane on Monday morning can have a clean walkway. These kind of finishing up details are extremely important while working in a public place. Soe Son Di understands this. I must make sure she gets an extra large piece of that delicious hedgehog from Cafe Thipatiy next Tuesday!