Ways Of Seeing Bathurst 2019

Projected onto the Library/Bathurst Regional Art Gallery forecourt area each night of the Bathurst Winter Festival between sundown and 10pm is Ways of Seeing, a series of video self-portraits created by local high school visual arts students and young creatives (aged 18-25 years).
Over 6 evenings in June at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, a group of eight young creatives with the guidance of local artists Henry Denyer-Simmons and Nicole Welch developed and produced a series of digital video self-portraits.
Participants worked in a collaborative environment in creating their video portraits, discussing how technology has impacted ideas of identity and place. During the workshops the young creatives looked at artists working in digital video such as David Stefanoff, Christian Marclay and Pipolotti Rist and considered how digital videos could be used to represent themselves with places around Bathurst and their own interests.
Sydney based digital media and design company Esem Projects worked with visual arts students at Denison College, Kelso High Campus and All Saints Scots College using obsolete video technology and recent video effects to create a suite of mesmerizing video portraits reminiscent of music videos from Rage and Video Hits.
Ways of Seeing provided these high school students to an opportunity work firsthand with people working in the professional creative industry and with technology they may never otherwise encounter.
“The Ways of Seeing illumination is a highlight of this year’s Winter Festival Program”, says BRAG Director Sarah Gurich. “The project showcases the importance of connecting professional artists with community to create meaningful, moving and imaginative public artworks.”
Ways of Seeing has been developed by Esem Projects and the Bathurst Regional Council Events Team with funding and support from Bathurst Regional Council and the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund.