Date: Thursday 11 June 2015
Time: 6pm-8pm followed by drinks and nibbles. The Dax Centre gallery will be open from 5.30pm to view the exhibition From The Fire
Venue: The Dax Centre, Kenneth Myer Building, The University of Melbourne 30 Royal Parade Melbourne
Registration is essential: Book here. All welcome.
A free screening of Moira Fahy's remarkable film Afterburn, which traces the emotional experiences of three families as they rebuild their lives in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires. The screening will be followed by a roundtable interdisciplinary discussion, featuring Moira Fahy (filmmaker and scriptwriter), Professor Tom Griffiths (fire historian and William Keith Hancock Professor of History, ANU), Dr Alex Lambert (Lecturer in Communication and Media, Monash University), and Ruth Wraith (psychotherapist, with particular expertise in the aftermath of disasters). The discussion will be chaired by Grace Moore (Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the History of Emotions) and will be followed by drinks and finger food.
The screening is one of several events organised to coincide with the exhibition From The Fire (27 May-30 October, 2015) at The Dax Centre and is a partnership event between The Dax Centre and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, with additional sponsorship from the School of Culture and Communication, the University of Melbourne.
From The Fire brings together a selection of artworks made by people who experienced the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. This exhibition captures the destruction of the fires and the emotional aftermath, with a focus on the impact of trauma.
Participants
Moira Fahy
Moira is a film producer, writer and director. Her documentary, commissioned by the ABC and Film Victoria, on the 1939 Black Friday bushfires won the 2004 ATOM Award for Best Educational website in Australia and New Zealand and the 2004 Victorian Fire Awareness Community Service Award for Excellence. Black Friday was also cited in the COAG Report to the Federal Government on Bushfire Mitigation & Management (2004) as a key recommendation for the recovery of bushfire affected communities. Moira Fahy was also invited to speak at the Victorian Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires (2009).
Moira's bushfire documentaries continue to be of enormous value as a cultural and historical record and an educational resource to make people aware of the impact of bushfires. Her films are used by communities, the government, the education sector, emergency management and state and federal recovery agencies, and play a significant role in disaster recovery and mitigation.
Tom Griffiths
Tom is the W K Hancock Professor of History at the Australian National University. He is also Chair of the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Director of the Centre for Environmental History at ANU, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and an Officer of the Order of Australia. His four books and numerous essays have won prizes including his 2009 essay on the Black Saturday bushfires entitled We have still not lived long enough, which was awarded the Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
Following the Black Saturday bushfires he worked with Moira Fahy, Peter Stanley and Christine Hansen in assisting the community of Steels Creek to come to terms with the experience and aftermath of the firestorm. His most recent book, co-written with Christine Hansen, is Living with Fire (CSIRO Publishing, 2012).
Dr Alex Lambert
Alex is a lecturer in Communication and Media Studies in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. He specialises in the study of social and mobile media, and has developed expertise as an innovative ethnographer of both online and offline practices. Currently Alex is investigating how social and mobile media influence how people recover from natural disasters.
Grace Moore
Grace is a senior research fellow at the ARC’s Centre for Excellence in the History of Emotions. Grace is at present working on a book-length study of settlers and bushfires in literature, Arcady in Flames, while developing a research interest in emotions and the environment.
Ruth Wraith (OAM)
Ruth is a child psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She has worked across a number of settings and in a number of capacities including Head of Department of Child Psychotherapy, Royal Children’s Hospital (1994-2005), Member of National Expert Advisory Group on Mental Health in Disasters, Advisor to Department Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and the International Organisation for Migration regarding children in detention (2001-02), field consultant to the 2004 Tsunami, the Queen Street and Port Arthur Massacres and Bali Recovery Program; the 2011 Queensland and Victorian floods, the Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday bushfires and numerous other bushfires and floods over the last 30 years.
Ruth’s contributions have been publicly acknowledged. She is the recipient of the Order of Australia Medal 2012 for her service to community health (especially the treatment of children recovering from trauma) and the Outstanding Service Award 2010 from the Victorian Child Psychotherapists Association. Ruth is currently contributing as a founding member and board member to the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma Loss and Grief Network and is an advisor and consultant to The Dax Centre’s Emotional Literacy Through Visual Arts program and Bushfire Collection.
Related Events:
Professional Development for Teachers and Professionals
Friday 14 August, 9.30am - 4pm.
A workshop exploring creative and therapeutic approaches to working with students, teachers and school communities in bushfire affected areas.
Professional Development for Arts Therapists
Thursday 3 September, 4pm - 7pm.
A workshop exploring the psychological effects of trauma through a blend of theory, experiential learning and active engagement with the exhibition From The Fire.
Facilitated by Dr Janine Brophy-Dixon.
For bookings please email professionaldevelopment@daxcentre.org or T (03) 9035 6258. For more information about the programs visit www.daxcentre.org.
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