‘The Edge’: a community art installation

🌿 The Edge: Where Country Meets Community Through Art

By Shez Cairney and The Interplay Project

At this year’s Desert Festival (21 September – 1 October 2023), a quiet transformation took place on the edge of the festival grounds. What began as simple bush huts grew into a vibrant mosaic of recycled materials, deep listening, shared stories, and powerful creativity. This was The Edge — a community art installation with a heartbeat.

Led by The Interplay Project and pioneered by artists Shez Cairney and Walbira Murray, The Edge invited people from all walks of life to reflect on two simple but profound questions:
“What do you love about this Country?”
“How can we give back to this Country?”

🌀 From Conversations to Creation

The concept behind The Edge was born earlier this year at the World Community Development Conference in Darwin, where Shez and Walbira introduced a bold installation that flipped the traditional research dynamic. Instead of community members giving endlessly, the artists offered their own private objects inside a hand-built bush hut — inviting trust, reciprocity, and real conversation. One participant noted, “This is the only place that feels safe at the conference.”

This spirit of mutual exchange carried into the Desert Festival, where The Edge took shape through grassroots collaboration. A growing group of local artists, Mparntwe Traditional Owners, and community members came together, bringing with them stories, skills, and vision.

🌱 Celebrating Country Through Community

At its heart, The Edge is about connection — to Country, to each other, and to the unheard voices in our community. The project unfolded through several key events:

• 🌿 Bush Hut Installation: Constructed from recycled materials, these huts became living canvases of community artwork. Visitors could step inside to see, hear, and feel what loving and giving back to Country looks like.

• 🪵 Community Bush Expo (27 Sept): A bush-style gathering that invited people to share knowledge, cultural practices, and solutions for how we can care for the land and one another.

• 🎤 Voices from The Edge (27 Sept): Cultural leaders and changemakers — including Mparntwe Traditional Owners — shared personal stories, hard truths, and hopeful visions for our collective future. Deep Listening was the guiding principle.

• 💡 From the Edge to the Centre (30 Sept): The festival climaxed with an interactive lightshow and performance, created by children and adults together. It was joyful, moving, and filled with sound, song, and vibrant colour — a true celebration of community energy.

🎨 Art as a Living Archive

The creative output from The Edge was as diverse as the people who contributed.
Visitors and collaborators produced:

• Videos and audio recordings of community voices

• Photography capturing moments of connection and co-creation

• Writings, weavings, lanterns, and graphic illustrations
  Each piece added to the larger story: one of love for Country and shared responsibility to care for it — not just in words, but in action.

💬 Reflections and Ripples

One of the most powerful aspects of The Edge was the way it made space — real, physical space — for people to feel seen, heard, and part of something bigger than themselves.

Through art, conversation, and co-creation, the installation:

• Brought together individuals, families, elders, and youth

• Encouraged organisations and groups to connect across cultural and social lines

• Identified community priorities and generated actionable pathways for the future

🔗 Want to See More?

Explore The Edge and its events here:

• Desert Festival: The Edge – Change Has Always Come from the Edge

• Voices from the Edge & Bush Expo (Event Overview)

• The Edge – Community Art Installation Project Summary

🙌 Final Thoughts

In a world that often feels divided, The Edge reminded us of something deeply important:
We all live on this Country. We all have a role in caring for it. And we are stronger when we do it together.