Leaving an imprint on Wadeye
Screen printing workshops and help coordinating a festival was what took Lucy Butler to Wadeye in the Northern Territory – face painting children and being the chef for vegetarians was another part of the experience.
She worked at the Palngun Wurnangat Association helping the women with Screen Printing/Etching and also as the Wadeye Festival Assistant Coordinator for the community’s arts and cultural festival.
“The Arts Centre has a group of very talented artists. I was able to push their designs a little further and play with other printing techniques. The women’s designs are exquisite, and we started playing with printing on canvas. Canvas has more economic value in galleries then other fabric material,” she explained.
Apart from being able to mix and share artistic ideas with the many talented local artists, Lucy also found herself teaching art at the local school as she became more involved with the wider community.
This ability to mix and share ideas also came to the fore when the Sydneysider helped successfully coordinate the Festival which three thousand attended.
“This project was such a good positive tool for building self-esteem and creating energy and momentum in the community. People were talking about creating more entertainment events where people can develop and perform their skills,” Lucy later observed.
It gave a chance for not just the artists to be involved but the wider community with children making masks, and boys assisting with security and other community members involved in the catering.
“It created a buzz in Wadeye and also brought people in from other communities that also wanted to celebrate. All the local bands that had not played in years came together and designed T-shirts and sang their country’s songs. We designed and hand printed all the t-shirts at the women’s centre,” Lucy explained.
This included the prominent Black Arm Band (pictured with Lucy) which opened the festival and also threw themselves into the T-shirt making.
“It was brilliant to see old women throwing down their walking sticks and dancing with such enthusiasm and rhythm. Young and old dancing and embracing their culture and kids parading down the street with masks they made, women from the retirement village out in force waving their flags and wearing party hats. To see the whole community come together and showing off their talents and embracing their community,”
