COONABARABRAN

The drive from Bathurst to Coonabarabran was interesting, traveling through Dunedoo! A town that is so famous yet almost empty of life… I saw community and health centres closed with windows boarded up. Even the old pub was quiet. I arrived in Coonabarabran on a Saturday night.
 
I was asked if I could detour via Coona (colloquial for Coonabarabran) to work with a quadriplegic  woman named Del and her son Will who is a young artist. I was really interested in the opportunity of working with a mother and son together especially as he was already working creatively.

I was captivated in something about Del’s voice from the beginning as she sounded so kind, gentle and calm. I wasn’t disappointed.

Del told me that as she had become ill, when Will was only one year old, she had developed her voice as a way of soothing and calming him as a young child — since she was unable to hold him to comfort him. She is an extraordinary woman.

Del working the camera

Del's son Will

She spoke about believing that the thought of love could be expressed by feeling the emotion strongly within her, then expressing that feeling through her tone of voice and the words she chose.

Although she had so little, and rarely went out of the very small housing commission home she lived in, she was so thoughtful of others and so generous in spirit it seemed that she was overflowing with plenty.

Dels’ son Will is a cartoonist, and was doing the workshop with his mum as her collaborator and carer. He’s putting some of his own artwork into the Comicon in Goulburn being organized by STARTS.

Gorgeous view in the Warrumbungles

Will also took me on a trip to see the sunset over the Warrumbungles. It was an amazing walk, and the scenery there was overpowering with exceptional beauty.

Thank you Del and Will, it was a pleasure to meet you!