Acclaimed multidisciplinary Saibai Island artist John Harvey is heading to the United States as part of an international residency program.
Mr Harvey is the inaugural winner of a First Nations writer-in-residence scholarship from the American Australian Association (AAA) and the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN).
The $US40,000 ($61,000) scholarship is a six-month artistic research residency in Boston and New York City, in partnership with Boston University.
Mr Harvey, a writer, director and producer who works across theatre, visual art and film, says he hopes the residency allows him to re-examine how he approaches telling stories.
“The really incredible thing for me is, as a writer, to have this opportunity to just be able to have the space to sit and think deeply about creative processes and to expose myself to new work,” he said.
“I’m particularly looking forward to immersing myself in the creative scene over there, and seeing diverse works by diverse storytellers and approaches to work.
“As a Torres Strait Islander storyteller, we’re often working in this Western form of storytelling, so it’s about ‘How do we bring our stories? How do we bring our storytellers into this storytelling?’
“So for me, it’s very much being able to explore that also as part of the residency.”
Mr Harvey has previously been the recipient of several awards, with his most recent accolades including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama for The Return (2023); FlickerFest’s Best Australian Short Film (Academy Accredited) award for Katele (Mudskipper) (2022); an Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Off Country (2022); and the Ignition Playwriting Award in 2020.
The Griffith University graduate says he hopes young Torres Strait Islander creatives express themselves through whatever mediums they choose to tell their stories, and that they think bigger than just making art for domestic audiences.
“I think at the moment we’re in a world where we have this potential to access both a national and a global audience — I think young people understand that more than my generation,” he said.
“For young people, I just think go for it, however you want to express your story. How I express stories now, that’s fine, but there’s always new ways to do it.
“I think young people embrace that so much, more of the national and global community. I think that’s wonderful for sharing our stories as well.
“Any kind of creative process is a journey. Sometimes you feel fantastic about what you’re doing, while other times you don’t feel so great. But to just maintain that belief in yourself and and to enjoy it, I think, is the main thing on that journey.”
