By CASEY NEILL
“THE boat carries the people and their dreams.”
Artist Motoko Katsuta Kitano said this was the sentiment behind the Ship of Dreams sculpture, now on display at Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens in Dandenong.
She’s been working with Wellsprings for Women, Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre, Springvale Neighbourhood House and more to create multiple boat sculptures.
“For countless people around our planet, a boat represents a journey to a better place,” Motoko said.
“A boat provides a way of escaping brutal regimes, religious and racial intolerance, oppression and subjugation.
“You can only dream of better things.
“I am both honoured and humbled to be working with the community groups on this project.
“Many of the participants have experienced first-hand some of the horrors mentioned above, but the strength of their spirit continues to drive them.”
Work on the boats will continue until the end of the year, each carrying the character and culture of those who build them.
The completed sculptures are to be displayed at the Dandenong Library in January.
Motoko’s exhibition Food for Eyes (Food for Thought) is also on display at Heritage Hill.
She created the collection while an artist in residence at the McCrae Street site in January.
Motoko has lived and worked throughout Japan, the USA, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland but said that in Dandenong she experienced the greatest diversity of cultures in one city.
“Every day I walked around the local area. I see the different houses and think of the stories and histories of the families there,” she said.
“Like a thousand books in the library, each house makes me imagine its stories and wonder how it would be if I could become part of these families and their culture.”
Food for Eyes (Food for Thought) and Ship of Dreams will be on display at Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens, 66 McCrae Street, Dandenong, from Friday 18 September to Friday 16 October.
Motoko will also run storytelling and origami boat workshops for children at the Dandenong and Springvale libraries.
