The 2022 floods have changed the face and community of Lismore forever. Exploring the stories, history and memories of North Lismore through the community photographic and oral project Living Memory will bring together people’s stories, preserve memories and capture the community at a moment in time.
At the heart of this work is the desire to creatively support a community experiencing a massive transformation – to tell their stories in their own words exploring the stories, history and memories of North Lismore.
In October many current and former North Lismore residents (‘Northies’) came together for a Living Memory community co-design workshop, sharing stories and ideas of how they would like North Lismore to be remembered. Local historian Adele Wessell and photographic artist Cherine Fahd were on hand to share more about the Living Memory project.
Pop-up photobooth
As part of the Living Memory project, North Lismore’s community is invited to be centre-stage.
Photographic artist Cherine Fahd believes photography can bring people and communities together, and creatively address moments of significant social change. ‘Photography has the power to make us visible to each other, to make us feel seen in ways that say, “I belong, I am here.” The simple act of making portraits creates a thread between people, a reminder of our presence in this moment, of resilience, of being held in each other’s sight so that we know we were here in North Lismore together.’
Pop-up photobooths will be set up at 43 Bridge St North Lismore on Thursday 28 November (4-6pm) and Saturday 30 November (8.30 – 11am) and Living Lab Northern Rivers invites locals to come along and have your portrait captured by local photographer Elise Derwin — by yourself or with everyone in your family, neighbours, mates or local club!
On the day share the experience of group portraiture with others, bring memorabilia and personal stories, and help us to create some lasting memories of the neighbourhood you are part of.
Oral history interviews
A series of oral histories with North Lismore residents will be created as part of Living Memory. The collection of stories, documented in interviews with local historian Adele Wessell, will explore the theme of home, community and locality in the words of locals from the areas where homes are being bought back. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch with Living Lab Northern Rivers at [email protected].
Digital archive
Living Memory will showcase the final series of oral histories and portraits at an event in Lismore in March 2025. They will also be accessible for long-term future reference, along with a collection of historical materials and artefacts. Together they will form a record of a North Lismore, it’s place and people, at a particular time.
Executive Director of the Reconstruction Authority’s Northern Rivers Adaptation Division, Kristie Clarke, described the Living Memory project as a ‘people first’ approach to recording the cultural and historical significance of North Lismore.
‘North Lismore, like many areas of the Northern Rivers, is undergoing significant change following the 2022 floods and this project takes a very personal approach to telling that story,’ she said.
Living Memory is a community project with Living Lab Northern Rivers and the NSW Reconstruction Authority.
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