Spencer, a year 8 Fitzroy High School student who has a photograph in the exhibition, said that his Slovakian grandfather used to say:
“Even the largest oak was once an acorn.”
This is the saying he chose to use, written in Slovakian, as part of his portrait photograph.
“The whole point of sharing these sayings is to show how alike we all are and how we don’t really need racial stereotypes in our lives. It’s amazing what’s been done. I interpret the art as the passion that we’ve put into it and our attempt to remove racial stereotyping in the community,” said the 14 year old.
Spencer’s work is one of 21 portrait photographs with sayings from all over the world, which used printing services to produce Posters of their portrait photographs.
Pauline Rice, the Principal of Fitzroy High School said,
“Students from years 7 to 10 participated in a 12-week project. Working with a range of culturally diverse artists, students were encouraged to think about ways of reducing race-based discrimination and racial stereotyping. For the duration of the project the WeR1 participants collected sayings from their families and members of the community with the aim of sharing and connecting with others and keeping sayings and cultural knowledge alive. It has been a wonderful experience for our students.”
The Fitzroy High School, the Queens Parade Trader’s Association and the National Gallery of Victoria’s Youth Access, WeR1 project funded by VicHealth, Arts About Us to promote cultural diversity in Victoria, jointly supported the exhibition. It finishes on 7th December.
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