Residents and visitors are encouraged to share their stories of the region in a new art installation at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
Dead Puppet Society’s ‘I Know A Place’ invites audiences to celebrate the region they call home, through a hands-on art activity to recognise and ‘flag’ special places.
The large 3-dimensional map includes areas of Bundaberg, Gin Gin and Childers, as well as coastal communities in the region.
Gallery visitors can add a pin to a place that is meaningful to them, with a story or anecdote about the site’s significance.
Dead Puppet Society’s Acting Company Manager Kat O’Halloran said the participatory installation combines quiet contemplation with hands-on activity for a unique and rewarding interaction.
“The installation invites all members of the community, and those visiting, to reflect on the places that are special to them in the local region,” Kat said.
“Participants are able to locate these specific places on the laser cut map, often by collaborating with other guests, commit their memories of this place to a notecard, before marking their place on the map using pins.
“Their memories are then submitted, either publicly or anonymously, to the project’s expanding library of living histories.”
Kat said the installation gives people the opportunity to investigate their history in a place, both personal and shared, and memorialise it as part of a collaborative artwork.
“Our towns, cities and regions are so often depicted in harsh pragmatic terms – geological surveys, reports on population density, diagrams of a city skyline, and of course, maps.
“All very useful, but ultimately incomplete, as they lack the ability to show the emotional topography of a place, the collection of overlapping stories – joyful and sorrowful and everything in between – that are drawn from the collective memory of a community spanning generations.”
The stories and locations collected through the Bundaberg iteration of ‘I Know A Place’ will be uploaded to Dead Puppet Society’s interactive digital map.
I Know A Place exhibition
Where: Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, 1 Barolin Street
When: 28 April to 6 September during gallery opening hours
Cost: Free
Please note, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery will be temporarily closed from Saturday 5 July to Friday 18 July.
Read more about Bundaberg Regional Galleries winter program.
