Harmony and Art in Alice

Yesterday was Harmony Day in Alice Springs, with a celebration of diversity, in the park. There was music, dancing and drumming, national costumes, activities and delicious food.  For a smallish town, Alice is quite diverse with representatives from Sri Lanka, India, Africa and South America. I especially loved the junior Bollywood dancers, but my favourite, was Drum Atweme. The group is made up of indigenous children from the town camps and the program is run by the Tangentyere Council.

The town camps were established early in the town's settlement by europeans. The indigenous people were pushed together on the edges of the town. Not a very unique story, sadly.  The people were treated at as one homogenous group, whereas the continent consisted of many nations, cultures and language groups. The map below is an attempt to demonstrate this diversity. There is an interactive map here, if you want a closer look. Life has always been tough in these camps and today it is no different.  Programs, such as Drum Atweme which promote harmony and provide positive experiences and opportunities are vital.

 

Incidentally, I also attended the opening of two art exhibitions on Friday night. One of these was at the Tangentyere  Gallery.   The artists are all women and the paintings are a wonderful mixture of naive and contemporary depictions of traditional stories. The second exhibition, also showing art from indigenous women, was at the Raft Artspace and featured paintings and textile sculptures, I spent ages admiring these sculptures. Click on the link and scroll through the site to see some of them. They are made from old blankets and embroidered. I was lucky enough to meet a couple of the artists and they were rightly proud and happy to show their work.