collective treasures (2024)
30 x cardboard boxes (190mm W x 275mm D x 110mm H), mixed media
what do you treasure?
could you put it in a box?
Collective Treasures was a collaborative art project developed for Harmony Week that invited residents of Dharawal Country in the Illawarra to reflect on the things they hold dear. Over a five week period, community-based workshops were held across Wollongong Community Hub, Warrawong Community Hub, and Wollongong Youth Services.
Every week, community members with diverse cultural, ethnic, and gender identities came together to assemble, paint, and collage the things they treasure into cardboard boxes. In these spaces, participants shared stories and forged new connections with their neighbours.
The resulting artworks were exhibited during Harmony Week at Curio Gallery in Wollongong - intentionally displayed in the central CBD as an invitation to the wider community to be curious about their neighbours, and perhaps to recognise their own treasures in the boxes of others.
