Into the Light

Into the Light was a transformative community art project that began in 2011 to help the community recover following the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires. 

This initiative used art to explore recovery, break isolation and build connections within Whittlesea and surrounding areas.

Locals asked that the project be repeated, to continue a collective reflection, realising that community recovery is an ongoing and evolving process that takes time to unfold.

The project involved conducting workshops in twelve schools across the Whittlesea, Nillumbik, Mitchell, and Murrindindi shires. These workshops engaged individuals and groups of all ages and abilities, fostering community participation and connection.

Each September, members of bushfire affected communities from across the Kinglake Ranges paraded together as a personal, public and collective ritual to welcome spring, reflect on the effect of enforced change in their lives, and look to their future together.

Over the years the project evolved. Guided by a community committee of local people and artists, the theme changed each year to reflect communities’ unfolding issues. The focus shifted from recovery, through resilience and to community building.

View the Into the Light videos