Writing on the Wall!
On Friday, the Frankston Arts Centre launched its community anthology Stories at the End of the Line. After the speeches, lo and behold, I found my writing on the wall!
The Stories at the End of the Line anthology came into being last year as a community engagement project when the Frankston Arts centre closed its doors due to covid on 16 March 2020. The brief for the project was to write a 500-word story about the experience of being in lockdown – fiction, fact, wherever your inspiration took you. In lockdown, the community shared its imaginings and experiences.
According to Frankston Mayor Kris Bolam, the anthology received 143 submissions from writers aged 12 to 80. From these submissions, 75 pieces were selected. My story was called ‘Phone calls’ and it was a memoir piece about Mum being hospitalised during lockdown and the difficulties it presented. Seeing my writing featured on the wall was exciting, and later, when the shock wore off, the memory made me cry all over again.
One really special feature about the launch was being able to share it with a scribe tribe. I was proud to be one of six Peninsula Writers Club members who made it into the anthology. Andrea Rowe was another author in our group whose writing made it on the wall (see framed pic below). Being able to share the launch with peers added an extra element of joy.
Stories at the End of the Line is available for purchase from the Frankston Arts Centre Box Office for $10.
This Time Last Year
The launch was also the opening of the exhibition This Time Last Year, a free exhibition featuring Lisa Atkinson, Jenny Rusby and the Frankston community. Alongside framed extracts from the anthology and two selected extracts written on the wall, the exhibit featured fabulous photographic artworks in the exhibitions ‘The Year we Stayed at Home’ and ‘All Dressed Up, Nowhere to Go’.
Thanks must go to Heidi Irvine and Frankston Arts Centre for doing such a stellar job coordinating the anthology and for a most wonderful launch and exhibition.
Photo credit Jenny Rusby from the exhibition ‘The Year We Stayed at Home’
