Author(s): TERRACINI LYNDON

Art History | Current Affairs & Politics

What is the culture of our place, of our backyard? Lyndon Terracini, who spent thirty years in the opera houses of Europe before settling in the NSW town of Lismore, reveals the rich diversity of Australia’s country-town culture and makes a strong plea for their right to the same respect as metropolitan culture. With the rapid demographic changes presently taking place, he writes, our European traditions are fast becoming irrelevant. Preservation of our stories is as essential to our survival as our flora and fauna. He writes of many months spent in outback towns, building huge collaborative performance works in which whole districts participated; and describes the way the communities took ownership. A creative culture, he argues, should be based in the stories of our backyard and the culture of place. From that grows innovation, skill and professional art practice and at the summit the kind of work that can be life-changing.