Stories Connect is a program focussing on encouraging creative expression among newly-resettled Yazidi refugee families and community members in the NSW town of Armidale.
Run by the New England Writers’ Centre, the program focuses on story sharing, photos and music, with the aim of forging stronger ties between the Yazidis and the wider community in the town.
Since humanitarian intakes from Syria and Iraq started in 2016 and religious minorities were granted asylum in Australia after fleeing Islamic State, hundreds of Yazidi families have been settled in Armidale and other towns including Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour and Toowoomba.
An exhibition showcasing their work is currently running at the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale.
More than 300 refugees from Iraq and Syria are living in Armidale, NSW. Source: Settlement Services International
"The exhibition was the culmination of a program that we ran at the Writers’ Centre which was called Stories to Connect and the aim of the program was to encourage creative expression and create a connection between the newly-resettled Yazidi refugees in Armidale and the broader Armidale community," Chair of the New England Writers' Centre Sophie Masson said.
"We did that through a variety of workshops, creative workshops and schools. We also did the community storytelling and local folk music which included people from both Yazidi and the broader Armidale community.”
The centre commissioned Yazidi photographers, Khalid Adi and Waleed Alali, to take snaps within the community about life in Armidale, to create an exhibition.
Khalid Adi and Waleed Alali Source: Supplied
Mr Alali arrived in Australia in August 2018, while Mr Adi arrived in May of the same year.
"We commissioned them to create photos about their new life in Armidale. They concentrated very much on family things and on things they like to do, what their families like to do," Ms Masson said.
"In Waleed’s case, he and his wife Ilham had a baby daughter who was born in Armidale right before we commissioned him so she was a very important part of the photos Waleed put together."
Both photographers said they were very happy and proud to be part of the exhibition.
Source: Supplied by Sophie Masson
"I want to express my feelings and tell my story through photography. Connecting with the broader community in Armidale is important," Mr Alali said.
Mr Adi was tasked to take photos of family events, his wife Basima and his little daughter Ala.
Source: Supplied
"The things they like to do and also memories of the past thinking about his parents who are still trapped in a refugee camp in Iraq," Ms Masson said.
Mr Adi said interacting with the broader community of Armidale was important to give the Yazidis the opportunity to meet new people.
Source: Supplied by Sophie Masson
Ms Masson said the turn out for the exhibition so far has been fantastic with well over 100 people present for the exhibition opening.
"It was a really big crowd well over 100 people which is really great for an exhibition opening and there were people both from the Yazidi community and from the broader Armidale community," she said.
"Whilst you’re not going to win everybody there are always people who have negative impressions of people, but generally it’s been a very positive experience both ways.
"There was a great deal of interest in it; people were very delighted with it how it turned out. We also had a film made, a part of it that was very important as well watching that and it was on for a couple of weeks. People at the gallery told us that people kept coming back to look at the photos and watch the film so it was a very big success."
Source: Supplied
Ms Masson believes the Yazidis are settling in Armidale "remarkably well".
"They really want to share their experience, they want to share their lives with the broader Armidale community and they want people to know who they are. They are very friendly and very courteous at the same time. They are really quite exceptional people and we are very lucky that they are living here."
