It’s not often that North Stradbroke Island has a presence in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, although many of us travel to Stradbroke, physically once or twice a year, but in our imagination much more often than that. It’s a special place, over the water and far away from everyday lives in downtown Brunswick Street. For me that made last Tuesday night’s launch of the LINES in the SAND Festival, held on World Environment Day (June 5), all the more special. The room at the Judith Wright Centre was dark, lit by images of tropical fish, rocks, coral projected onto the walls – an installation developed by Ludy Trippett. Auntie Joan Hendriks’ welcome to country was heartfelt, as were her words, “Art is our lifeline”. The festival, to take place 27-30 June 2012, draws together art, the environment, the island’s indigenous heritage. This unique blend is an event developed by director and NSI local Jo Kaspari and “defines its own style of environmentally sustainable art, incorporating Aboriginal cultural forms with community input and children’s creativity, and spontaneous happenings. It also embraces new media: sound, conversations, digital technologies”. These words are from the LINES book, also launched last week, that records the path the festival has traced to date.
The 2012 festival promises an intrinsic island experience, with art, conversation, ecology. Weaving, learning to make your own lines in the sand, discussions with visiting artists, including Fiona Foley, or just spending time fossicking with materials. Last year Lucy Trippett’s projection onto the colossal face of Point Lookout’s south gorge into the evening’s darkness had audiences spellbound. Stradbroke is only an hour or so from the Brisbane CBD, but the physical experience of the island compels repeat visitation. The LINES experience adds another layer altogether to that.
Download your LINES in the SAND publication, Culture + Country/Art + Ecology at LINES publication pdf www.www.linesinthesand.com.au/about/.