Tassie gets creative in the era of the lockdown

TASMANIANS ARE submitting their stories and experiences of the Covid-19 era to bring it to life for future generations. The Minister for Education and Training, Jeremy Rockliff said Libraries Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) are partnering on a long-term collecting project to document the Tasmanian community’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘As cultural institutions, both Libraries Tasmania and TMAG are aware of how crucial it is to collect this material now, so that future generations can comprehend how Tasmanians lived through the pandemic,’ he said.

‘The COVID-19 Stories Project seeks to capture the impact of this historic event on the lives and livelihoods of everyday Tasmanians to create a collective memory for the future.’ Both Libraries Tasmania and TMAG are reaching out across Tasmania to collect photographs, writing, and other objects that have mattered to Tasmanians during this unprecedented period of disruption, social distancing and self-isolation. The focus for Libraries Tasmani will be on ‘grass roots’ photographs as well as key documents and stories in written, digital, or audiovisual formats.

TMAG will collect three-dimensional items and the personal stories and meanings connected to them. The organisations are hoping that a wide range of items will be submitted, from personal digital photography to hardcopy items such as personal written accounts, artist diaries, posters and other material such as the contents of care packages used by Tasmanians in quarantine. The project team will also contact others, including elderly Tasmanians in isolation, innovative business owners, or frontline staff who have gone beyond what they normally do in order to survive.

Both organisations are looking forward to sharing the COVID-19 collections with the public at an appropriate time to enable Tasmanians to reflect on this experience from both a local and global perspective.

More information about the COVID-19 Stories Project and the process for submitting material can be found on the websites of Libraries Tasmania and TMAG: www.libraries.tas. gov.au and www.tmag.tas. gov.au.