INTO THE LIGHT is a community process and event that utilises art to explore ongoing recovery issues, helping to break down isolation and build connections in Whittlesea and surrounding communities in Victoria, Australia. It began in 2011 in response to community needs following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Locals asked that the project be repeated, to continue a collective reflection, realising that community recovery is an ongoing and evolving process that takes time to unfold.
From 2011 to 2016, we engaged in a collective collaborative art project in the Whittlesea Township and surrounding areas, as part of a community recovery process.
Each September, members of bushfire-affected communities from across the Kinglake Ranges paraded together as a personal, public and collective ritual to welcome spring, reflected on the effect of enforced change in our lives, and looked to their future, together.
Guided by a community committee comprising local people and artists, the theme changed each year to reflect the community’s unfolding issues, rather than council boundaries or projected plans.
As time passed, the themes and content of INTO THE LIGHT gradually shifted from recovery to resilience and then to community building.
Working across municipal borders, the process has involved workshops delivered in twelve schools throughout the Whittlesea, Nillumbik, Mitchell, and Murrindindi shires, as well as community workshops engaging individuals and groups of all ages and abilities.
Videos:
2011
2012 The Unfolding Story
2013 Between Land and Sky
2014 Cycles of Change
2015 Echoes of Home
2016 Threads that Connect
Stefanie Robinson 