Language is made of people. So is paper.

For this community artwork, local residents brought newspapers and magazines in their own languages — Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic and more. Together we tore them apart, mixed them, pulped them, and made something entirely new. Different languages, inseparable from each other, pressed into a single surface.

The paper was then sewn with red cotton thread and shaped into the Chinese character 人, meaning “person” or “human”,  a character that only stands because its two strokes lean on each other. Mounted on timber and installed across the wall in fluid, wave-like forms, the work became a portrait of Willoughby’s community: distinct voices and cultures, interdependent and whole.

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The project was created through a series of workshops I led at MOSAIC Community Centre, with artist Louise Allerton transforming the handmade pieces into sculptural forms for the final installation.

The Symbiosis Art Project was commissioned to mark the integration of MOSAIC Community Centre with Dougherty Community Centre, Chatswood, 2023.