• The Charles Sturt University research project ‘Burning Generation’ exhibits art works by young people during August in Tumut, NSW

A Charles Sturt University research project worked with young people in the NSW Snowy Valleys region to produce art and viewpoints that reflects their response to climate disasters such as the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-2020.

The exhibition of their art works is now on show in Tumut until the end of August.

Project leader Dr Rachael Fox and Associate Professor Andrew McGrath in the Charles Sturt School of Psychology said the exhibition is part of a wider project, ‘Rural Australian Young People’s Experiences of Climate Disasters: Collaborating on Creative Action’.

“Burning Generation presents an exhibition of art and comments, opinions and experiences creatively communicated by a group of seven young people aged 12 to 18 years old who live in the Snowy Valleys and experienced the Black Summer Bushfires,” Dr Fox said.

“Participants worked on making art about those opinions and experiences, with the end goal of the project to have a collection of art works that will form the basis of this exhibition, and the publication of the art works supported by the words of the artists.”

Dr Fox said with the support of a grant from Charles Sturt University Sustainability, in 2022 they partnered with local artist Claire Harris at Create Hub Riverina who has a background working with young people to express themselves creatively in relation to difficult issues.

They hosted six free afternoon workshops over six months in Batlow for young people aged 12 to 18 years in the Snowy Valleys.

“We had fun, built up art skills and other skills, and supported the young people to create high quality

finished pieces of art that express their experiences and opinions of the Black Summer Bushfires,” Dr Fox said.

“At the end of the workshops we also interviewed some of the young people in order to complement their art works with their words, now presented in an accompanying booklet.”

Professor McGrath noted that in the Snowy Valleys region of NSW the Dunns Road fire near Adelong began on 27 December 2019 and continued until 24 February 2020, burning an estimated 333,940 hectares.

“In neighbouring Batlow, a town with a population of 1,270 people where this project took place, one life was lost, 20 properties and homes were destroyed, as were orchards, logging forests, paddocks and livestock, and countless wild animals and native forest were decimated,” he said.

“Across the Snowy Valleys, a population of 14,500 people in towns including Tumut, Tumbarumba, Adelong and Batlow were significantly affected, with a reported loss of 186 homes, 27 businesses, thousands of livestock and an estimated $56 million in damage were reported.

“This project drew on the experience of the young people who experienced this environmental and social calamity.”

The ‘Burning Generation’ exhibition will be officially opened from 3pm to 5pm on Friday 4 August at the Tumut Region Visitor Centre, 5 Adelong Road, Tumut. The exhibition runs from Tuesday 1 to Thursday 31 August.

For more information contact Dr Rachael Fox via rfox@csu.edu.au or 0420 548 884.

Dr Fox and Professor McGrath acknowledge the Project was supported financially by Charles Sturt University Sustainability and the Charles Sturt School of Psychology. They thank Anne Hallard and team at the Resilience Hub, Batlow, for their support, and particularly the young people who took part and their families, without whom the project and artworks would not exist.