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The Stage Curtain Project

© Jo Murphy

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The Stage Curtain project was a pleasure. I was commissioned to come up with a design and to workshop with culturally diverse women to make the pieces and sew the scene in place.

The centre to which Kez referrs was then called the Brisbane Migrant Resource Centre in West End. It was a meeting place for many of Brisbane's multicultural arts and migrant service organisations. It was regularly used for performances by local and visiting artists from Non-English speaking backgrounds. The plans for the curtain began in 1987. The Process.

The idea was put forward by the Multicultural Womens Group. They wanted to participate in an arts project which would overcome language barriers and bring them closer together, and which would reflect the "diverse but united nature of their group."

"They also wanted to work in an artistic form that would ensure all members could participate and share skills, while at the same time producing an art work that would be of practical and lasting use."

And so the medium they chose was applique

The design featured a tall gum in the centre, with the Rainbow Serpent wound around it. To one side the northern hemisphere countries were represented and the other side the southern hemisphere.

I worked on the curtain for 5 months, in residence at the then Migrant Resource Centre. With a workshop set up on the stage it became a meeting place for all sorts of people. One day the Danish women would come and sew, another day the German women, most days a couple of Spanish speaking women would be there and local poets and writers often came just to sit and chat.

Most of the work done by the women was beautiful but in some cases it was not hardy enough to stand the wear and tear we knew it would get. So when the design was completed I employed a professional to sew any loose ends and actually get the curtain to hanging stage. The whole community and more have enjoyed the colour and detail in that curtain as it graced the stage there for a few years. Recently I have heard talk of it being restored to glory and being used by BEMAC (the owners) again. That is exciting to see.

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