Other team members: Benjamin Chatfield, Abby Reynolds & Yanis Newman-Pache
Australian bushfires have destroyed an unthinkable amount of flora, fauna, memories, and communities. They have devastated many lands and the homes of those who inhabited them. What defines us is how we remember what was lost, and how we respond. The land has been scarred, but already things start to grow back.
For our proposal, online interaction is created through a website that illustrates this walkthrough experience and shares the experiences and stories of the area to a wider community. A portal to the area will be created where locals can share their stories and memories as well as creating a tourist destination which the community is so reliant on.
For our proposal, online interaction is created through a website that illustrates this walkthrough experience and shares the experiences and stories of the area to a wider community. A portal to the area will be created where locals can share their stories and memories as well as creating a tourist destination which the community is so reliant on.
Story:
Driving up the road we knew so well, the towns we had been to so many times, and the landscape we had come to know as home. The smell of dry ash and charcoal crept through the AC, assuring us that what we saw was real, and not some kind of nightmare. I wasn’t quite sure how to feel as my mind jumped from one ugly thought to the next, grasping for a thought of hope among the ash. One phrase just wouldn’t leave me alone, is there anything left?
We arrived, and my core froze, temporarily refusing to function.
I found myself sitting on the ground, tears beginning to uncover charred earth underneath the blanket of ash. The warm, thick air from the fires washed over me as smoke settled into a suffocating fog. Trying to hide remnants of what was ripped away. Is there anything left?
Forcing my eyes upward, they stumble across a lone waratah flower, just in front of me. Is this what is left? I could deal with the house and animals later; I just needed this moment for myself now.
The colour amongst the darkness managed to hold my gaze as I think about what it represents. Survival, resilience to live on and continue growing. Is this what is left? This small symbol of life after destruction?
