IOTA21 Day 1 Conference + Opening Night－Shermy=Share with Me 六寶媽日誌

Each participant get a nice burlap bag with goodies in it 參與者都會拿到像這樣的一個麻布袋喔！

It’s been couple months gone already since I attend Indian Ocean Craft Triennial (IOTA21) conference on 17-19 Sep 2021 in Perth. Thanks Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which support artists in regional and remote Australia with the travelling costs and ticket price and make it possible for artist like me to attend such amazing events, which including not just only the conference, but a vibrant opening night full of art and music, art exhibitions, and fashion show etc.

離我去伯斯參加印度洋手工藝三年展(IOTA21)議會已經過了兩個月了。感謝澳洲政府的偏區藝文基金，提供旅遊補助及議會入場經費給住在澳洲偏區地區的藝術工作者們，能參與如此特別的活動，包含了學術議會、充滿音樂及藝文活動的開幕之夜、藝術展覽，及服裝秀等等。

Let’s get back to Day 1 Conference.

回朔到議會的第一天。

WA Maritime Museum, my first time visit. 西澳海洋博物館，第一次參訪

The venue was held in WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle, a brand new building which I’m so glad to be able to visit for the very first time. We were welcomed with such hospitality with resources-a nice burlap bag filled with booklet, notes, pen and posters; and food-a very nice setup with waiters serving juice and coffee. I really feel like I was in the castle or a VIP with a high class service like this.

第一場會議舉辦在Fremantle的海洋博物館，真的很高興能利用這個機會拜訪這棟新的建築。每個參與者都拿到一個精美的麻布袋，裏頭有宣傳冊、筆記便條、筆和海報，進入會場時，更是被高級的服務與美食款待著，感覺自己好似身在城堡裡，以高級貴賓之姿被迎接。

We've been up and down several times either to get food (with a nice view from the balcony) or back to conference 我們上上下下來回好幾趟，不是去樓上用餐(並享受美景) ，就是在樓下上課。

The food provided were full of variety and simply divine! 供應的茶點和午餐非常豐盛美味

There are two ways of speech presenting weaving together for the conference: face-to-face and, pre-recorded and meet online. I have to admit that Day 1 conference had a very big ratio on the online presentation which was bit hard for me to digest them all. Anyway, there were some highlights worth talking about.

會議的進行以兩種演講方式交織而成，一為由演講者本人親自到場演講，一為演講者本人線上預錄好演說，並在線上與觀眾互動。我必須承認，第一天的演講有非常重比例的線上演說，讓我非常的吃不消。儘管如此，還是有幾個highlight值得一提。

Nyadol Nyuon’s first online speech mentioned about her explanation of “Acknowledge of Country.” Let me explain. “Acknowledge of Country” is a short statement presenting in every assembly, event, activity or meeting. It will state we respect the owner of the land and the people who live on it etc. Nyadol said, the purpose of “Acknowledge of Country” is to pause and think the history of the country, and where it would like to go. In which I found the concept also radiant through her subject “WHO TELLS OUR STORIES, HOW DO THEY TELL THEM, AND WHAT INFORMS THE RIGHTS THEY HAVE TO SPEAK?”

(Click here for Nyadol's online presentation: https://vimeo.com/627911070)

由Nyadol Nyuon帶來的第一場線上演講，一開頭就提到了她對”Acknowledge of Country”的詮釋。所謂的Acknowledge of Country即為在澳洲某些活動場合開場時，會說一段關於我們尊敬這個原始土地的擁有者，及居住其上的原始住民們等類似的話語。Nyadol 說，她認為Acknowledge of Country的目的在於讓人們能有短暫的暫停，並藉此思考這個國家的歷史、傳承，及未來走向。而這也與她的演講主題「誰在講述我們的故事，他們如何講述，以及他們必須擁有什麼發言權？」相輝映。

(點此觀看Nyadol的線上演講：https://vimeo.com/627911070)

When Nyadol mentioned her daughter would ask her to sing a certain song as a lullaby, a song Nyadol’s mum would sing to her and pass on to her as well. As a musician, I was so eager to know the tune of the song. I waited till the very end in the Q&A and make a request if Nyadol could sing to us. And she did! Nyadol got a beautiful calming voice. Accompany with her mother language, the performance was absolutely beautiful and powerful. Lots of thanks were given to me by other participants for this request that I made, as the majority reckon it couldn’t be a better way to finish the first presentation like this. I was really blown away.

當Nyadol講述她在傳承自我文化時，她女兒每晚會都會要求她唱一首搖籃曲，而這首曲子，也是由她母親傳承下來的。身為音樂家的我，實在對這首歌好奇不已，於是在最後的問與答，等到最後一刻時，向她提出了請求，希望她能唱給我們聽。Nyadol答應了，她有一副很好的音嗓，伴隨著她的母語，這場表演非常的美好且具有震撼力。結果因為我發出的這個提問，竟然在會後得到好多人的讚賞，說很感謝我提出的這個請求，真是讓我受寵若驚啊！

Some display in the museum fascinated me so much, including those cute sheeps, seal skin, old snow white story book and the toilet on a rocket. 海洋博物館內的展覽很是有趣，有可愛的羊群、海豹皮、古早味的白雪公主故事書，和火箭上的馬桶。

In the afternoon, we had Liz Williamson presenting her Weaving Eucalypts Project which included both the development in history and the corporation with the communities. For someone who never been expose to the dying art like this, for me, it’s totally a whole new world. The colours extracted from Eucalypts in different places and countries are all come in different shade. Isn’t it bit like us human being? We might have the same skin colour or races in some sort, but the life experience we gone through and extracted, make us all have a different way of perceiving things. It makes me wonder, if for a certain thing, we all could have our opinion express through colours and put together on the fabric and display, what would the final artwork looks like?

(Click here for Liz's online presentation: https://vimeo.com/627910984)

下午場，由Liz Williamson 講述以尤加利樹染料的相關發展史及手工藝計畫，要知道，這對從來沒有接觸過染料藝術的我來說，實在是新奇的很。同樣身為尤加利樹，卻能在不同地域所生長，而能被萃取出深淺不一的顏色，這不就跟我們身為人類是一樣的道理嗎？也許在某些程度上，我們擁有相似的膚色或外貌，但經由生命歷練與萃取，每個人所展現出來的認知卻有所不同。這不禁讓我好奇，如果我們對同一件事的意見與詮釋，能以顏色的形象顯現並拼湊展示，那看起來會是什麼模樣呢？

(點此觀看Liz的線上演講： https://vimeo.com/627910984)

Next, we had Suzie Vickery presenting her community project in Napel, what an eye-opener! Suzie herself is an amazing textile artist, she had done so many projects overseas focus on women’s health, both body and mind, including dominant violence, healthy diet and prevention of diabetes. We were so amazed by her project ideas and you can hear lots of laughter from us audience when we saw the costume and artworks those women had created. There’s art exhibition and story telling tours. Suzie engaged so deeply with the community and had inspired so many people including us. What an impact an inspiration she truly is!

(Make sure you check the amazing Suzie out on her website: Susie Vickery Embroideries)

接著，Suzie Vickery以她在尼泊爾的計畫讓眾人大開眼界！Suzie本人是織品藝術家，她在國外的計畫主要著重在婦女們的身心健康。其中也包含了防家暴、健康飲食和糖尿病預防宣傳等等。藉由在當地的藝術展覽、團體巡迴說故事演出等大型活動，我看見了Suzie的偉大。她不只帶動了一整個社區婦女們的自信和藝術啟發，也在當地和我們這些來參加會議的人們心中，烙下了深刻的影響。

(對Suzie有興趣的人，請務必到她的官網朝聖喔！http://www.susievickery.com/)

A beautiful handmade quilt brought in by one of the presenters 由某位演講者帶來會場的精緻手工藝品

The last presentation of the day was Geri Hayden’s Noongar Healing Dolls Project. She shared the stories of aboriginal kids who lost their parents and had a deep connection to those handmade dolls they made themselves. There’s especially one kid who never wanted to talk to anybody but show her interest in making a doll and thus asked Gerri to teach her how to sew. I would never know a humble little handmade doll like this can make such big impact on the little one. The power of hand making is way beyond our imagination and you can definitely feel the healing power working on the kids.

最後一場的Noogar Healing Dolls Project，Geri Hayden分享了手作布娃娃在孩童們心中的地位。當聽到不願與人溝通的孩子竟然能主動開口詢問Geri的教導與幫忙，並一針一線的完成手上代表她已逝的父母的娃娃，你真的能感受到這些娃娃帶給孩子們的治癒能力。

These healing dolls play an important role for kids who lost their love ones. 這些療癒娃娃在失去親人的孩童身上起了非常重要的角色

After the conference, there’s a networking function for regional arts delegates. I’m one of them. We introduce ourselves and had a little chat and catch up with others over nice drinks and nibbles provided. Ruth from Denmark walked with me together to attend IOTA21 Opening Celebration held at Fremantle Art Centre. It’s always nice to have a company. Ruth and I had a great conversation as how to find the balance between acting the role as an artist and as a mum of young kids.

會議結束，我們這些來自郊區的藝術家們有一小段的Networking交流，互相認識。

我和來自Denmark的Ruth結伴走去藝術中心參加IOTA21開幕晚宴，路程中我們相談甚歡，在進會場前，Ruth與她的家人會面，我就成了獨行俠。

Fremantle Art Centre

Beautiful decoration through out the whole place 現場布置了滿滿的花藝及編織

There were a lot of decorative flowers and weaving artworks hanging around the whole place. Everyone who entered the centre was sprinkled with holy water and offered with a lucky red dot (Bindi) on the forehead. I never had a bindi before, it felt so special to be welcomed with such tradition. I met Grisha, another conference participant. Grisha was a rather young woman among the conference participants and was from India. She told me all the decoration and atmosphere here at the event really reminded her how it felt back in her own country.

來到會場時，現場佈滿了滿滿的吊花裝飾與編織藝術，每個人在進入會場時，還能被點硃砂、灑聖水的傳統儀式接待，非常的特別。獨行俠當沒多久，我被另一個同樣來參加會議與晚宴的印度女孩Grisha結伴。Grisha的年齡在與來參加會議的多數人相比，算是非常年輕。Grisha告訴我，會場的布置和氛圍，讓她懷念起了在家鄉的情景。

Welcomed with a lucky red dot on the forehead (bindi) 這是點硃砂所用到的原料喔！

Bonfire's on, nice and warm 野火非常的暖和

IOTA21 Opening Celebration was a night full of music, arts, dancing and culture; it was jam packed that night! I really love the idea of how each performance was not limited to one specific spot and had to make all the audience ran after each show to get a different viewing spot. It’s really fun to run and exercise in this way especially on such a cold night like this. And how great was the bonfire on that night as well. I lost Grisha in one of the running (we’ve been looking after each other). Just when I was considering leaving as I was worried about the time, Grisha found me again! She told me, the following Indian classic dance was definitely something I don’t want to miss, as it was the main thing bring her over! So I stayed.

IOTA21的開幕晚宴是一場充滿了舞蹈、音樂、文化和藝術的展出，現場人滿為患。表演的形式以分散於各個定點的方式進行，並不局限於一個特定的舞台，於是我和Grisha不斷的在會場中遊走換位，就只為了找尋每場表演的最佳視野。演出上半場結束時，因為被人潮沖散我不再與Grisha結伴，擔心回到飯店的時間會太晚，我本來打算離開，沒想到Grisha又找到了我！Grisha本身來自印度，她告訴我，接下來的傳統表演才是重點，錯過了會非常可惜，於是我就留下了。

Some beautiful exhibiton inside the art centre including Suzie Vickery's artworks

A very impressive India classical dance, what a show! 令人印象非常深刻的傳統印度舞蹈

I was so thankful for my decision to stay. As Grisha said, the classical Indian dance performance was really something I never seen before. So worth it! It combined power and beauty in the dance, which was full of strength but so delicate and elegant at the same time. I remembered hearing a similar read out rhythm bol from the movie “Life of PI,” if it’s not from many confirmation from Grisha those read out rhythm bol were just for the beats counting, I would think the lady who’s reading the rhythm was actually telling a very vivid story! Her techniques of using her voice reading out loud such a long counting beats really is an art. Even till now, I can still feel her strong and powerful reading rhythm echoing through my mind. I enjoyed every bit of it. In the end, the band played and people danced. I danced my night away even I wasn’t good at free dance at all. I was having a really good time. Grisha and I walked together to the station and said goodbye. It’s a bit of walking and we had a fruitful conversation. What an experience tonight.

正如Grisha所言，那段傳統的印度舞蹈，結合了力與美，是我從來不曾見過的藝術演出。我在電影少年派裏頭曾經聽到舞蹈老師嘴裡念念有詞的節奏，沒想到竟然能在會場中親身見聞，相信我，如果不是Grisha告訴我，負責唸唱的人就只是在數節奏而已，我會以為那位唸唱者在述說著什麼生動的故事！她的抑揚頓挫和聲音張力的大小，把數拍的字詞完全的數到我的心坎裡，讓我聽得如此入迷！晚宴最後，隨著台上的樂團和台下的眾人們一起舞蹈著，度過了很美好的一個星期五之夜。最後和Grisha結伴走到火車站，步行距離雖然有點遙遠，但也因此營造了能與Grisha互相聊天、多認識彼此的美好體驗。