Image: Learning from Home Pack, issued to Year 2 students of Auburn North Public School during COVID-19, paper /cotton / plastic / wood / metal / synthetic, compiled by teachers of Auburn North Public School, Auburn, New South Wales, Australia, March 2020.

Hidden Lessons (2022)

Who do we learn with? Where do we learn? What do we learn with?

Hidden Lessons created in Sydney on Darug Land over six months, is the culmination of a student-led, pedagogical project that encourages learners to interrogate their own educational experience: who we learn with, where we learn, and what we learn with in the wake of Covid-19, incorporating objects of everyday life from the Powerhouse collection.

The students from Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, took part in this project developed and led by Lleah Smith, Artistic Associate of Powerhouse and Nadia Odlum, Artist in Residence at Parramatta Artists Studios. Through collective knowledge generated in the sessions together learners created their own temporary ‘Museum of Hidden Lessons’ which honours a significant shift in educative practices and invites speculation on how learnings from the pandemic may inform future pedagogical models. This ‘museum’ sits alongside a display of Powerhouse collection objects explored through the project.

Housed in a temporary structure, a canvas tent, this museum was erected first on the grounds of Our Lady of Mercy College, and later at the Powerhouse Castle Hill, alongside a display of Powerhouse collection objects explored through the project. As ‘caretakers’ of the Museum, the project participants were encouraged to share the project with their peers and school community, by inviting them into the tent and engaging in reciprocal knowledge exchange rooted in dialogical and material practices.

p.u.b.l.i.c.s.c.h.o.o.l (2021- ongoing)

p.u.b.l.i.c.s.c.h.o.o.l is a pedagogical collective driven by artists, educators, curators, arts workers and arts writers in Australia who desire to ‘do differently’.  

The collective is fuelled by experiments and conversations that push boundaries and play with radical forms of learning, connecting and sharing for our communities locally and abroad. As a method for holding ourselves accountable documentation and evaluation are a critical part of p.u.b.l.i.c.s.c.h.o.o.l’s process and practice.

p.u.b.l.i.c.s.c.h.o.o.l has grown from a desire to develop a malleable and fluid ‘pedagogical approach’ to collectivising that is open to change and adaptation. For this reason, the boundaries of our group are not concrete, we welcome new members and discordant voices. 

p.u.b.l.i.c.s.c.h.o.o.l embraces plurality, and a concept-driven speculative approach. This may manifest many forms of outputs, including exhibitions, gatherings, workshops, publications and events, as well things that fit all or none of these categories. 

Images: Ankit Mishra and courtesy of Birrong High School.

Youth4Care Party (2020)

Youth4Care PARTY was presented as part of the inaugural Bankstown Biennale. It was a ‘political party’ and a ‘celebration’ that redirected the focus from ‘emergency’ to ‘care’ The project was student-led and created in collaboration with the year 9 and 10 students from Birrong Girls High School. It was an essential artwork for the time, harnessing the power of the rapidly growing movement of youth-led climate strikes, political engagement and togetherness.

Slogans, placards, flags, giant birthday cards and a ‘make a wish’ station were created during a series of workshops facilitated by Lleah Smith, as language, material, sign and symbol were explored as tools for communication. All messaging focused on ‘positive action’ and ‘change-making’, whilst borrowing from birthday rituals which cultivate feelings of belonging as a way to collectivise.

Image: Video still from Good Chat Productions.

Your Public Art Project, Kaldor Public Art Projects (2019)

What is public art?
How can in transform your local environment?

Your Public Art Project was a Kaldor Public Art Projects learning program delivered in partnership with The Arts Unit, NSW Department of Education. The program was designed and led by Lleah Smith in collaboration with Public Programs and Education Manager, Antonia Fredman.

Primary and secondary students from NSW Department of Education schools were invited to reimagine public space within their communities. The project had an extended reach and involved rich engagement with students from Bourke, Dubbo, Parkes, Wilcannia, Western Sydney and Sydney’s Inner West. Smith travelled across NSW facilitating experimental and process-based learning experiences that aimed to challenge students understanding of public art practice and invited conceptual approaches to art-making.

Images: Tushikur Rahman, Saurav Khurana and Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA).

a flag for me + a flag for humanity (2019 - 2021)

How do we self identify?
How do we identify with our wider community?
What does it mean to belong?
What do flags mean to you?

Flags are powerful symbols of unity, exclusion, communication and prayer. They define nations and govern rules of play. a flag for me + a flag for humanity opens up a space for exchange through participation in individual and collective exercises including, meditation, dialogue, hand stitching and the creation a new visual language to be transferred onto two flags, one for the ‘self’ and the other for ‘humanity’.

Lleah Smith worked with diverse communities across Australia, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia through the project with approximately 300 participants. All outcomes were gifted back to the artist and stitched together to form a large-scale collective artwork.