Celebration

Maddy writes an opinion piece about how it might feel on the ‘other’ side of a celebration

A celebration isn’t always a celebration

The definition of celebration is “the act of celebrating” which in turn means “to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities”; “to make known publicly: proclaim”; or “to praise widely or to present to widespread and favourable public notice”.

It is a fantastic feeling to spread awareness of a major life event such as a pregnancy, engagement, birthday, anniversary, etc. Guests enjoy themselves, the hosts enjoy themselves and everyone usually leaves the event all tired out from the excitement and happiness.

However, as great as that is, there are the people sitting on the other side of the fence who have a good chance of never celebrating some of those things. There are people watching baby showers and gender reveals all over social media who struggle with infertility. There are people seeing photos of their friends getting engaged and married, knowing they haven’t found their person yet. There are paraplegics watching videos of accident survivors walking again for the first time, and everyone being so happy for them.

I believe that in the midst of celebrations we often forget about the people who are sitting on the outside knowing they will possibly never experience what they are witnessing. While it’s always exciting to celebrate our own, and our friends and families’ great moments, we must also remember and acknowledge the people who feel left behind, and maybe celebrate things for them once in a while, or let them express their disappointment if they need to.

With every beautiful moment that occurs, there is an equally horrendous moment happening simultaneously somewhere in the world. Both are deserved attention, even though one is easier to process than the other.

'Bloom Inward' celebrate self-love as the ultimate act of protest. Featuring Musician, Poet, and all-around Artist Jag this work is a testimony to her legacy. I meet Jag a couple of weeks ago when I saw her poetry feature at the Sloth Bar. I am deeply moved by Jag as not only a performer but also a person who chooses unconditional love amongst life's unforgivable cruelty.

A short motion graphic to communicate the common piece of advice, to celebrate small wins in order to stay motivated in the long run, and reward yourself even for completing simple goals.

An article calling for the community to celebrate our educators’ efforts and perseverance to support their community during the lockdowns in Australia

Celebrating our “Humble Heroes”

The 11th of March 2020. Some of us were oblivious of what had been taking place in the world, some following it closely. On this day we all came to terms with the fact, that we were in a pandemic. We would listen to the news, gossiping about this apocalyptic state the world was suddenly in, all whilst in our little bubble at our schools where almost everything was seemingly normal, but that all changed for students in Victoria on the 30th of March, 2020. Victoria’s first lockdown.

From the get go, panic quickly oozed throughout communities, bringing stress for all individuals, questioning if they could continue bringing food on the table, or even had a job, and Victorians had no idea that this would be a common occurrence in the next two years. The lockdowns affected people in many ways, and gave us a million more reasons to be grateful for people in our community. Small businesses, retail shops, fast food, healthcare workers, airport workers, and many more. It seemed like there was no hope yet. However, teachers and childcare workers sacrificed their time, money and sanity throughout the country, to ensure children, teens and young adults could remain to access one imperative thing. An education.

Attending school and educational services at home was unprecedented, but it happened regardless. Teachers organised attendance systems, and ways to make the lessons remain engaging to retain student interest. They manoeuvred their way around difficult tech systems, and persisted day after day to ensure they were giving students top quality education, despite the limitations. I like to call teachers the “forgotten frontline” of the community. Through the despair and turmoil ravaging the state, they remained to deliver positive messages to their student, providing a support system. They had to adapt suddenly to complex digital systems and technologies, and find ways to support students with limited technologies at their homes. A testament to their perseverance.

Our commendable childcare workers are also worth celebrating. To quote, “Why is early childhood educators’ work viewed so minimal compared to others? During this crisis, we’re expected to be front-liners - now others see our value in society. How important we are!” – Anita, child care provider from Greensboro, NC. I personally couldn’t agree more. Childcare workers greatly contribute to the early stages of development in children, and whilst social interaction was at an all time low for children during the pandemic, they tirelessly made up for it, finding ways to bring joy in sometimes empty space. The possibility of them risking their own health but continuing looking after many children, is representative of their passionate and caring personality that drove their commendable work serving the children and families of their local communities.

Next time you greet teachers, or childcare workers, thank them for the work they do for the community. Helping build up our future and expand our knowledge. Let’s celebrate our opportunity of receiving an education in a pandemic when many others haven’t, let’s celebrate our source of hope and optimism when it seemed like there was no end, not forgetting the humble heroes that gave students and children hope throughout the state.

Ramadhan is here! People often ask me how it’s like celebrating Ramadhan in a foreign country. In
this video, I took one for the team and investigated what a Ramadhan gathering for us here in
Melbourne is like.

I investigated what it’s like to celebrate Ramadhan in Melbourne. I took one for the team and attended a local gathering to break fast. Everyone brought their own plate of yummy food. Lucky me. The Maghreb adzhan means it’s time to break fast! Spoiler alert, the food tastes good but better with company. Oh yes! Even our own mini bazaar! As much as we love Ramadhan, we’re excited for Eid as well! We never leave out our love for learning, there’s always something new to learn about our religion. And the best part of our gathering is our opportunity to pray together & being one with our community. So if you ask any Muslim, they’ll tell you the same. Ramdhan is our special month! Everyone with a different reason, but our feelings remain the same. That no matter where we are in the world, this month is a special reminder that we’re never alone. Why Ramadhan is celebrated by everyone, everywhere, every year. Happy Ramadhan, Eid Mubarak & case closed!

I created this to showcase and celebrate the natural beauty that is hidden around Victoria.

The piece shows the theme of ‘celebration’ and all the different ways of expressing it/experiencing it

Poem: highlight small details that are worth celebrating because in disguise, they are all gifts.

A joyful smile by a kind stranger,
A simple “good morning” that changes her,
The waft of salty air as the glistening sea catches your eye,
The nostalgic thought of the flamboyant sky,
Those familiar faces from lost times,
Those melodious tunes from forgotten chimes

Drawing: a beautiful plant that I took a photo of once it had bloomed (during last year’s lockdowns). I can vividly remember how much happiness it brought me because of its beauty during a challenging time of all of us. I would often walk past it while it was just green and then one day, BOOM, it became such a lovely memory. One that is definitely worth celebrating.

Mother Tongue is an 11-minute short drama I wrote and directed in 2018/2019. Mother Tongue tells
the story of 17-year-old Jane, who begins to embrace her background and rekindle her relationship
with her mother when she becomes immersed in Chinese culture at her younger sister’s new
language school.
There are many autobiographical elements present in the film. It is strongly inspired by the
estrangement I felt towards my family and my culture when I was younger. I didn’t want to be
Chinese, I was embarrassed by the sound of the language, I didn’t like the way I looked, and generally
resented any aspect of my culture that highlighted my non-whiteness.
But as I grew older, a collection of experiences helped me reframe my relationship with my
background - from it being a detractor, to an aspect of myself that I should be proud of and should be
celebrated. Some of this had to with increased positive media representation, but most of it had to
do with meeting the right people; for example, a Chinese-school teacher of mine - who randomly
made a really passionate speech about how proud and in love she was with her culture, which
happened at a time in my life when I really needed to hear that. I recreated this speech in the film,
parts of the speech are actually direct quotes. This film was intended to be a love letter to my family
and a celebration of my culture.
To realise and distribute the film, I collaborated with five other heads of department over the span of
three years - a producer, a cinematographer, a production designer, a sound designer, and an editor -
not to mention a cast and crew of over twenty people. I’m only able to share the trailer as we’re still
waiting to hear back from a few film festivals so cannot release the full film publicly as of yet - but
very soon! I hope it piques your interest.

Transcript:
MA Jane-ah, I almost forget! Chinese school sign-up close tomorrow. Can you call?
Number stick on freezer.
JANE Why bother? I never went to Chinese school.
JORDAN Why did you get to choose my name? I thought mums chooses names.
JANE Ma obviously doesn’t know any good English names. She gave you your Chinese
name.
JORDAN Mā, má, mǎ, mà. Yū, yú, yǔ, yù.
JANE Do that somewhere else.
JORDAN You’re just jealous of my Chinese skills.
MA You always good at looking after yourself. Please, Jane. I am late.
JANE Wish I had a big-sister-personal-assistant when I was your age

The Modern Dionysus depicts a different portrayal of the ancient Greek god of celebration. Rather than a full human form, he is depicted as an ethereal and ghostly presence that surrounds us in all celebrations. Green and purple surround him, representing the grape plants usually draped over his head. His face is shown whereas his entire body is covered in bright yellow robes surrounding an abstract of a crowd celebrating fireworks. This artwork is both an experiment in watercolour and ink, while also marking the first produced in a journey of loving and celebrating the things about myself.

This is an infographic that I created on Canva. It describes the reasons behind why we celebrate.

The meaning behind this Vietnamese culture poster is all about the Chinese New Year. I had fun designing this poster on Canva. One of my favourite moments was adding colours and graphics.