The Many Faces of Mackay
- Our Multicultural Heritage
SERIES ONE - Faces of our Community
a photographic exhibition by ANN FITZGERALD
Identity - Heritage - Roots - Intimacy
Every human being, to be mentally healthy, must have the feeling of belonging. When we have a sense of belonging we can be intimate. We can feel. We can connect. If we cannot develop this feeling of belonging, then we will feel lost or disconnected. To be disconnected from life is like walking around during the day not knowing the Sun exists. To have the feelings of intimacy is warm, glowy, joyful, loving and connected.
Belonging
The highly successful 'Many Faces of Mackay - Our Multicultural Heritage Series One' exhibition returns to the Lagoons Gallery. This award winning multicultural photographic exhibition by local Mackay photographer Ann Fitzgerald, was first held at the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens in July 2004 during the Mackay Festival of Arts. This exhibition was an important step in recognizing, valuing and understanding our cultural diversity. If you missed this exhibition last year, here is your chance to catch it again.
June 8th - July 18th 2005
Lagoons Gallery, Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens
SERIES ONE EXHIBITION
The Many Faces of Mackay
- Our Multicultural Heritage
SERIES TWO - Faces of our Council
DIVERSITY AT WORK
a photographic exhibition by ANN FITZGERALD
July 22nd - August 21st 2005
Lagoons Gallery, Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens
Identity - Heritage - Community - Intimacy
Culture teaches us how to live and it ensures that knowledge about life is handed down from generation to generation. Culture gives us the feeling of belonging. It helps us raise our family in a good way. It teaches us how to treat one another. Culture sets boundaries for societies. We need to develop our culture. We can feel. We can connect. If we cannot develop this feeling of belonging, then we will feel lost or disconnected. To be disconnected from life is like walking around during the day not knowing the Sun exists. To have the feelings of intimacy is warm, glowy, joyful, loving and connected. It is being part of the community.
Belonging
SERIES TWO EXHIBITION
ARTIST'S STATEMENT:
I guess you could say I am still searching for my own sense of belonging.
My father had survived three years in the *Auschwitz Concentration Camp [a Nazi Death Camp] before being liberated by the Allies in Europe.
He was Polish by birth and came to Australia in 1951 as a displaced person [refugee]. He met and married my mother in 1952 and in 1953 I was born at the Cottage Hospital New Norfolk Tasmania.
I had always felt a sense of disconnection from my heritage, not quite knowing who I was or where I was from. A little like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I have since discovered some long lost relatives in Poland and know deep within, that I need to make a journey to the land of my fathers birth if I am to truly find my own sense of Belonging.
Mackay is my home, but Poland, Germany, Ireland & Scotland is my heritage. I am one of the Many Faces of Mackay.
Photographer: Ann Fitzgerald [Australian] Polish/German/Scottish/Irish
Father: Leopold Antoni Kaizik - born 1922 [Polish & German parents]
Mother: Irene Grace - born 1933 [Scottish & Irish parents]
Image of Ann Fitzgerald blended next to her father's image on his displaced person papers
*Auschwitz, town in southern Poland, site of the largest concentration camp and death camp run by Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945). The name Auschwitz is commonly applied to the complex of death and concentration camps near the town.
Prisoners were transported from all over Nazi-occupied Europe by rail, arriving at Auschwitz in daily convoys. When the Soviet army marched into Auschwitz to liberate the camp in January 1945, they found about 7600 survivors abandoned there. In 1946 Poland founded a museum at the site of the concentration camp in remembrance of its victims. SS camp commandant Rudolf Hoss admitted to a minimum figure of two and a half million deaths at Auschwitz, but the estimates of deaths at the total camp complex range from two and a half to as many as four million.
Multiculturalism aims at ensuring that all Australians have equality of opportunity to benefit from and contribute to all aspects of life without prejudice or discrimination.
Multiculturalism exists within the structures and principles of Australian society - the rule of law, Parliamentary democracy, freedom of speech and religion, English as the national language and equality of the sexes. In this framework, it promotes universal ideals of human rights based on mutual respect, co-operation and a fair go for all,
In Mackay we are so fortunate to have people residing here from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This exhibition aims to highlight that we all have a rich and diverse heritage; and we all have a cultural background that is worth acknowledging and sharing with each other. It is through this symbolism that we can express, enjoy and value each other's identity and recognise that we all have a role to play in ensuring the wellbeing, contribution and participation of people in our community.
Mia Sammut-Landt
Local Area Multicultural Partnership Program
Funded by Multicultural Affairs Queensland
Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Mackay City Council
EMAIL DIRECT TO PHOTOGRAPHER Ann Fitzgerald
Back to EXHIBITIONS Page
SERIES ONE EXHIBITION
SERIES
TWO EXHIBITION
Mackay City Council
THIS BOOK WAS THE OUTPUT RESULT OF [MAPD 2005] Multicultural Arts Professional Development 2005
 
Kape Communications
The Multicultural Arts Professional Development (MAPD) program is a partnership between the Australia Council for the Arts, RMIT University, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Kape Communications.
An initiative of the Australia Council's Arts in a Multicultural Australia policy, MAPD sees "Productive Diversity" as the key to Australia’s future national and international success in the arts and cultural industries.
It provides delegates with access to some of the nation's best practitioners and thinkers in cultural brokerage, entrepreneurship, leadership and marketing.
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