Originally Published July 29 2022
KERANG locals braved the cold weather last weekend to marvel at the illuminated streets and water tower as part of Kerang’s Living World light festival.
“Everyone wants to paint a wall or a silo or a water tower, but we can do things differently,” event organiser Anglea Hird said.
Ms Hird described Friday night as an “outdoor art gallery”, with artwork digitally projected on six buildings along Victoria Street, as well as two shopfront window installations and two mobile installations. All the artwork displayed was created by locals.
“It was designed to tell a story about the reconciliation between culture and environments, talking about our lived world and our living world, how we have got to this point, how we interact with our environment, and how we reconcile with our lived environment,” Ms Hird said.
On Saturday night, there was a screening of the movie Lake of Scars, before the grand finale of the festival – a projection on the Kerang water tower.
“It actually worked really well, it was great synchronising and a perfect fit for the whole ethos of the weekend,” Ms Hird said.
Even though the original idea for the festival came about in around October 2018 with the first grant application, Ms Hird believed it was a great way to bring locals together in a COVIDsafe manner.
“We’ve been so cooped up with COVID, this was a way for people to come out and just let that sense of being and living in a community in a rich environment around us right here,” Ms Hird said.
“We live in such a rich place, and we just use the medium of art to project it.”
As for future festivals or projections, Ms Hird said the Living World light festival has now paved the way for more opportunities for similar art installations.
“We’ve planted the seed by bringing this medium to town,” Ms Hird said.
“It is now up to the rest of us to get involved, get on board, and see where we can take this.”
