Bold Park Community School has been part of Reclaim the Void from the very beginning. It was the first school to create rugs for the project and, for four consecutive years, students have continued the tradition — passing on the skills, stories and purpose of the work from one year group to the next.
Teacher Rhys George first approached Reclaim the Void about developing an installation for the school’s Arts Festival. That conversation helped spark the idea of creating smaller-scale, temporary installations — works that could travel, adapt and respond to different communities.
It was a pleasure to return to the school carrying a bundle of rugs, including some made by the current students. We gathered around the fire pit with First Nations artist Rubeun Yorkshire, who shared his designs and yarned with the students about ideas and meaning. Together, they chose Woordawoort — dragonflies — as the focus.
Rubeun invited the students to colour and map out how they imagined the design would look. Their drawings became the blueprint for assembling the work from the rugs. After carefully putting it together, we rolled it up overnight, then returned the next day to reassemble it for the Arts Festival — a collaborative piece shaped by many hands.
Rubeun said about the artwork: "The Woordawoort had been chosen by the students through the conversations we shared together. As we connect on Boodjar so do our animals that sustain and protect it . Woordawoort, the Dragonfly is spiritually connected to the waterways showing us the path to kep (water) as it holds deep meaning and life for our future generations yet to come. Water is something we must care for and by doing that we could learn a lot about the creatures that exist in it, like the Woordawoort".
