Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson is currently working with the Victoria Park Community Centre. This residency forms part of one of Spaced’s current programs, Know Thy Neighbour #3.

Join fellow residents of Vic Park and surrounds for a gentle, creative workshop on the themes of home, place and identity led by artist Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson and creative arts therapist Cara Phillips.

The intention of this workshop will be to share stories about what makes Vic Park unique - in its urban, communal, and social identity. Together we'll explore what 'wayfinding' is and how is made by the community, for the community. 

Participants will engage in an art therapy workshop led by Cara Phillips's practice. This is an hour-long process of intersubjective art-making (something shared between two minds and expressed through art). It focuses on the emotional responses to themes such as home, familial history, place and identity. 

After this, Phillips and Eshraghian-Haakansson will take the participants through a brainstorm asking What makes Victoria Park 'home' to you and to each other?   Everyone will then construct a poetic collage with the answers. Each object will be placed on top of Loren Holme's map of Victoria Park and we will bring it to life by talking about what each piece means, drawing connections, discussing what's missing, what's there and how they speak to one another.

Please note: You will not be asked to share anything or go anywhere you do not feel comfortable in regards to the therapy aspect. Elham will be seeking consent from participants to photograph some of the process and the map made. This documentation will be shared to the group. The outcomes from the day will be added to a growing archive of the artists research gathered whilst on residency and possibly used in outcomes March 2023. All contributors will be continually credited through this process.

Who is this for? This workshop is open to any participants of any background, you do not need to be 'an artist' or have any creative making experience whatsoever. But, it is preferred you are a local resident or have a strong connection to Victoria Park. You must be 15+ to attend, 15-17 year olds are welcome, but will require consent from parents.

What do I bring? It is essential to the workshop that you bring an object that connects you to home in Victoria Park - something small and personal. And a packed lunch! Tea/coffee refreshments provided throughout.

Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson is an Iranian-Australian researcher and video artist. Her arena of work centers itself within communal and collaborative social practice. Her research navigates inherited stories and post-memory felt by displaced communities through the poetics of the moving image. She invites viewers to become the 'witness' rather than the 'passive bystander', examining empathy in film-poems, and immersive multi-media experiences facilitating a critical discussion surrounding empathy, custodianship, compassion, and social change.

Cara Phillips is a MIECAT trained Arts Therapist based in Perth, Western Australia. She has worked in theatre and film, specialising in devising shows and films with different groups in the community. Cara has strong values around the intersubjective connection between people and runs a travelling festival experience called Baba Yaga’s Dream Yurt. She has a strong interest in myth and archetype and the language of dreams. Cara is currently completing a professional doctorate on the subject of the therapeutic process of creating a theatre production and holds registration with ANZACATA, and SDTAWA.

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