Projects
Material & Ephemeral
Material & Ephemeral is a poetry anthology written by ten writers living on Yuin Country, Far South Coast NSW.
Forty-one ekphrastic poems are included, inspired by seventeen artists exhibited at the South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Bega on Djiranganj Land.
The poets are: Linda Albertson, Heather Burness, Janette Dadd, Caren Florance, Wendy Gibson, Shona Hawkes, Gabrielle Journey Jones, Kate Liston-Mills, Leah Szántó and Cindy Turner.
During 2024 the group met and wrote poems responding to the exhibitions on show at the South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA). This curated collection responds to work by artists Gerwyn Davies, Jessica Loughlin, Ruth Maddison, Bruno Booth, Heather Burness, Celia Gullett and Gordon Hookey, as well as works from the SECCA collection.
Edited by Gabrielle Journey Jones & Caren Florance, and published in 2025, a PDF of the anthology is available to purchase online here.
Stepping Up
This storytelling project was the final phase of a community development program I worked on for almost two years. The four-episode podcast series speaks to thirteen community leaders about how they harnessed and developed new skills in the face of disruption — featuring the voices of some of the Bega Valley's most active and creative emerging leaders.
They share insights about how the Far South Coast NSW not-for-profit sector has been supported to plan collaboratively for the future through the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s place-based capacity-building partnership program: Investing in Rural Community Futures. I learnt an incredible amount from this impactful program and the development of Stepping Up. Listen to the podcast here.
Of Pigs and Whistles
Of Pigs and Whistles is a travelling exhibition exploring the compelling history of steamship navigation on the South Coast of NSW, a significant era which forever changed the region, linking it to the rest of the world.
South East Arts engaged my services to copyedit exhibition text alongside curator Angela George. The exhibition has been touring around the broader South Coast region since launching at Eden Killer Whale Museum in December 2022.
The Purpose of Truth
Published with Ginninderra Press in 2023, Gabrielle Journey Jones’ 3rd poetry collection was written on Yuin Country.
It was a real pleasure to dive into works so rich with colour and feeling, penned by a talented writer who draws inspiration from the creative community in which she lives, celebrating diversity, activism and inclusion.
An award-winning performance poet, you can read more about Gabrielle’s work and creative world here.
enCounter
enCounter was a multidisciplinary project that included two installations, 11 museums and 14 creative practitioners. An initiative of Orana Arts, the program's aim was to engage regional museums with their community and with the creative sector.
Selected regional writers across NSW chose a museum and created works reflecting a museum experience. A weekend workshop with mentor Ruth Little supported the project, after which Orana Arts published the enCounter anthology.
My contribution was a poetry collection titled So the Yarn Goes, drawing on the compelling history held at Eden Killer Whale Museum.
enCounter was funded by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Australian Community Media
I embraced a position in journalism shortly after the Black Summer, just prior to the onset of the COVID pandemic. Reporting on social, economic, environmental and community issues for local and national audiences was both an immensely rewarding and challenging role.
The Far South Coast community is unique and multifaceted and I was humbled by the wealth of stories so generously shared with me in the aftermath of bushfire devastation.
