Wise Young Things

Mixed media artist Asha Cornelia Cluer is presenting her first public exhibition in Australia at Rockingham Arts Centre. Wise Young Things: Rockingham is a result of her stint as artist in residence at RAC, where she matched local students with senior citizens, the students lip-syncing the stories of older generations. The stories focus on place, immigration, family, friends, language and culture. The project combines oral storytelling with modern technology and performance, with the lip-syncing, popularised in recent years by social media, providing a link between old and new, the past and future. 

Born in Western Australia, Cluer spent her late teenage and early adult years in Chile, before studying at the University of WA. From there she moved to the UK, studying professional acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and taught alongside her career as an actor, director and writer across theatre and film. It all came to a halt when the pandemic hit. “Film, television, theatre – everything shut down overnight,” says Cluer. Already funded for a live theatre project with local primary school students about the history of Islington Canals, the project became a lockdown film. “I really needed to engage with the more historical element (we included audio from Regents Canal Heritage archives), but we couldn’t put people in the same room. So that’s where the lip-syncing idea was born – out of necessity,” she says. 

Being in London during the pandemic was scary, she says. “It was not a very nice time. And I think my partner and I just thought, ‘okay, maybe it’s time to be near family again,’” she says. Back in Australia for two years now, she says it was clearly the right decision. “I started thinking about first and second generation immigrant experiences and thinking, ‘okay, I think that’s what I want to make this about now.’” 

Aided by Rockingham Youth Centre assisting with recruitment, Cluer auditioned students in the 13 – 18 year age group from schools around Rockingham who were interested in performance and had the desire and drive to be part of projects. Both the storytelling and performance workshops were developed in alignment with the Telethon Kids Institute’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) and the Arts framework. “The process is as important as the output in this project,” she says, “which aims to increase SEWB in all project participants and encourage connection between generations.” 

The local Autumn Centre was key in finding candidates for the project, with stories reflecting the fabric of the local community. The resulting footage will be projected in the space for audiences to explore, and listen to. “The experience of seeing young faces and old voices, of embodying the stories of others, is key to the exhibitions’ meaning – a celebration of the breadth and diversity of people and experiences in the local community and developing understanding of, and empathy for, the immigrant experience,” says Cluer. 

Wise Young Things is on show at Rockingham Arts Centre from 27 November until 8 December.