Lofty thoughts waft through

A BOOK containing prayers by local people and photos of Dandenong is available at the Dandenong Library.
Artist Ben Cittadini created The Dandenong Book of Prayer that was launched yesterday (Wednesday).
He decided to create the book after conducting a survey, which included the question, “How often do you think about God?” and 99 percent of people surveyed answered “all the time”.
“I became conscious that Dandenong was not only a place of rich cultural diversity, but a place of deep and genuine belief; a place where the hopes and dreams of people were intimately connected with their faith,” he said.
Mr Cattadini made the book with 55 prayers, which were contributed in a donation box in the Dandenong Library, as well as photos he took in central Dandenong to document spaces and buildings in the process of being revitalised.
Revitalising Central Dandenong place manager Jenny Pemberton-Webb said the prayer book provided an insight into a significant period in Dandenong’s evolution.
“The book brings together the everyday thoughts and hopes of a community, which is living in an environment undergoing significant change,” she said.
“It presents these thoughts with photos of familiar and less known buildings and spaces and presents a snapshot in time.”
Copies of The Dandenong Book of Prayer can be obtained from the Dandenong Library and the City of Greater Dandenong.