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Larapinta Primary School, Alice Springs, Australia

Sarah Hyde

The school the children attend is located on the outer rim of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Their town is very remote, very hot, very dry and very beautiful. Class 2 was chosen to participate in the project as their teacher Alison became interested in the project in social chats and the children are within the targeted age group. The children are from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds, some born in Alice Springs and some have moved here from other parts of Australia. Two Aboriginal children from the class were absent as they had returned to their communities in the bush. Alison informed me her class had a week earlier been in a documentary on ABC Television because they are the first to be learning an Indigenous language as their language other than English that they study. We were working with celebrities!

The 27th was another beautiful clear blue sky day in the Alice, the children were inquisitive about where I am from, what I am doing in Alice Springs, and how old I am. The children were asked to close their eyes and picture in their heads what they think is the most important thing in the world to them. They were told it was very important not to tell anyone and that it was their own secret only to be shared after they had completed their paintings. Once the children had thought really hard, one by one they came over to me and whispered their name and what they were going to paint in my ear. They spoke about their families, pets, games and then I was really surprised by what one boy said, “The most important thing in the world to me is knowing what’s healthy and what’s good”. Can you see his painting? The morning tea bell rang and so the children had to keep their idea a secret over the break. Once back in the classroom, everyone sat in front of a canvas ready to paint. The boys sat together and the girls sat together. Once they started painting you could see a few of the boys had decided to paint what their friends were painting. Some took longer than others but all were complete in about one and a half hours. It was amazing watching how carefully some of the children were mixing colours and painting their pictures to just how they wanted them.

When it came time to collect the paintings a little girl who had painted a Ninja from her favorite cartoon said that she wanted to give hers to her mother. I explained again where the painting was going and her eyes lit up and she said with a huge smile, “lots of people are going to be looking at my painting?!” She then asked if she could get a photo of her painting in an exhibition. Another came up to me, eye’s wide and said “my brother once played tennis in Darwin and my mum’s been to Sydney but I’M going to be in an exhibition in LONDON!” The children told stories about why they painted what they painted. One painting I found particularly interesting was of an Aboriginal girl and her parents. She painted herself black, her father grey, and her mother white. In reality they all have the same colour skin. Everyone filled in their little cards saying what they painted and why and then it was time for lunch. The class said thank you and I thanked them and their teacher Alison for letting me into their lovely class. The next day the paintings accompanied me as my hand luggage to Sydney on Qantas flight 791 and then they were posted to London to find their way into the exhibition.

It is amazing to think 26 children from Alice Springs in outback Australia have a piece of art hanging in an exhibition in London, England, alongside children from all over the world. When they left the classroom after completing their paintings there smiles showed they felt proud and special to have been involved in the KEEPS Exhibition. Please admire these children’s artwork knowing that they are so excited to be having you look.

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