Monday 12th June, saw the commencement of an exciting collaborative digital media art project with students from St. Dominic’s College and Caroline Chisholm College. The colleges were fortunate to be one of two schools in NSW to secure grant funding from the Visual Arts and Design Educators Association to finance a project.
Mr Lewis and Mrs King proposed project HOME, exploring the current urban growth of Penrith, questioning the impact of change on the identity of the Penrith area through photographic and digital media. Working with contemporary artist Khaled Sabsabi, students reflected on the changes to the local environment and considered ways to represent their ideas in photographic and digital forms. The experience aims to connect students with their local environment, exploring how contemporary art and media can create a critical exchange of ideas to engage a range of audiences.
Western Sydney artist, Khaled Sabsabi has exhibited in more than forty-five solo and group exhibitions in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, New Zealand, Poland and Spain. Sabsabi is the recipient of several significant awards and exhibitions with an extensive list of achievements including the recipient of the Blake Art Prize and an Australia Council for the Arts Community Cultural Development Fellowship.
He is currently represented in the Sydney Biennial at Cockatoo Island and recently opened a collective show with 16 Islamic artists called Enough – advocating human rights and the voice of the marginalized. We are very fortunate for our students to be learning from an artist of Khaled’s high profile and calibre.
The workshops aim to strengthen student’s awareness of photographic practice and promote links and exhibition opportunities between the two schools with Penrith Regional Gallery. Dr. Lee-Anne Hall, Director of the Gallery addressed students with insights into the planning of the Summer exhibition – Ideal Home scheduled to open in December this year. Students have been given a unique opportunity to develop artworks for inclusion in this exhibition.
We look forward to seeing the work produced from project.
Mr S. Lewis
Visual Arts and Drama Coordinator
