I Am Here (Vol. I & II) is a printed publication featuring conversations with Joan and Esta—two beautiful women who lived in aged care homes and whom I visited weekly over several years.
Both issues were published in collaboration with Visual Studies Workshop (Rochester, New York) and distributed for free in aged care facilities, inviting residents and staff to engage with their own stories.
Issue One. The Flowers in Her Room features conversations between Esta Ziviani and myself, which took place in Esta’s care facility in Brisbane during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Film by Nikolas Strugar / Ravens At Odds www.ravensatodds.com
The project explores art practice as a means of fostering dialogue and connectedness between aged-care residents, staff, and the rest of the community. Specifically, I worked closely with St. Vincent’s Aged Care in Brisbane, Qld, —a non-profit institution with which I ran an initiative aiming for aged-care residents to feel connected during COVID-19 pandemic. Such project involved setting up video-calls and face-to-face social visits to residents on a weekly basis for a period of two years—as well as recording conversations, transcribing, editing, photographing, designing, and publishing.
Excerpt from a conversation between Joan Nolan and myself which she agreed to share to audiences. This and other conversations were transcribed, edited, and published in I Am Here, Issue Two, The Tiny Little Details in 2022. Joan worked with me in every step of the process and she enjoyed having the book launched at her care facility. (Book launch images by Nikolas Strugar / www.ravensatodds.com)