A GREY sky hanging over the city’s corners chased the weekend’s latest Laneway Festival instalment into a gallery on the weekend — but perhaps for the better.
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Art has been conquering Warr-nambool’s quiet laneways over summer but Saturday’s Come Sit A While With Me exhibition offered something different.
For the past eight weeks artists Julie Poi and Becky Nevin Berger have been meeting with seven people at the Archie Graham Community Services Centre.
The stories of those with acquired brain injuries or in various stages of dementia have been told in their own words through seven books.
Using furniture to recreate living rooms, the hope had been to take the stories into world at Ozone Walk but the weather had other ideas.
“The original plan was to set up an installation of chairs, armchairs and recliners in the Ozone laneway,” Nevin Berger said.
The wise decision was made to relocate to The Artery but the installation will now remain their for another week.
“It ended up with a very homely atmosphere inside The Artery,” she said.
“It was really a privilege.”
The artists themselves read their stories to an attentive audience of around 40.
Collaborator Julie Poi said the books were a personal snapshot into the lives of the seven artists.
“Most of them have some form of acquired brain injury or dementia so it’s different for them to communicate in a non-traditional sense,” Poi said.
“I was a little chuffed. I stood back and all the installations were full of people.”
s.mccomish@fairfaxmedia.com.au