First Nations artist Sarah Levett and local animator Alice Peacock have put together a couple of short animations for this year’s Festival of W. Photo: Supplied.
If you visited Wagga’s civic precinct over the weekend, you may have noticed a projection at the entrance of the Museum of the Riverina.
As part of the Festival of W, local First Nations artist Sarah Levett and animator Alice Peacock were asked to provide several artworks to be animated for a couple of short shows.
According to Ms Peacock, the most prominent show was inspired by the First Nations constellation the Great Celestial Emu, which is only visible during winter.
Sarah, the artist behind a large portion of the artworks in the show, said as a proud Wiradjuri and Gundungurra woman she is always inspired by the land and stories of her culture, particularly Pomingalarna and the Murrumbidgee River.
Proud Wiradjuri and Gundungurra woman Sarah Levett has been an artist most of her life. Photo: Supplied.
“It’s so nice to see that our culture is being shared and the stories of our culture are being heard and that people want to see it,” Sarah said.
“Wagga Wagga City Council approached me asking if I could provide some artwork for a couple of projects that they had planned. The first is the projection on the Museum of the Riverina and the other is emu tracks that I’ve made being shown on the ground around Wollundry Lagoon.
“I’ve never done anything quite as professional as the Festival of W before, but it has been such an awesome experience. Working with Alice [Peacock] to animate the artworks and to tell a bit of a story was something I’ve never done before but something I really enjoyed being a part of.”
Sarah said the opportunity to showcase her work meant she felt like she could pursue a career in producing First Nations artworks.
“There has definitely been a shift recently where First Nations artists around Wagga have begun to be noticed for their works,” Sarah said.
“It’s such a nice feeling to know that my mob has shown younger Indigenous kids that they can make a career out of being an artist and that younger artists can have their works seen.”
Animator Alice Peacock said although brief, the collaboration with Sarah was a seamless one.
“She was amazing. I would happily work with her again and refer her to people who are looking for creative partners,” Alice said.
“I work with a lot of different artists and a lot of different styles of work and the creative process with Sarah was very easy, very seamless and I know we’re both pretty happy with the end result.”
The emu was a major focus for Sarah and Alice when making the animation. Photo: Supplied.
This year’s collaboration with Wagga Wagga City Council isn’t the first for Alice, who has provided a number of animations and projections over the years.
“I have done work for the Festival of W for a couple of years now and I absolutely love doing this project each year. They trust me quite a lot to produce something each year; they give me a brief and I execute it every year. They always seem to be pleased with my work.”
To see more of Sarah’s artworks be sure to visit her website here or follow her on Instagram: @sarahlevettart.
For more work from Alice, check out her website here.
The Festival of W runs until 21 July. To view the full program, check out the Visit Wagga website.
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