Safe In School Desk, 2016

MDF, A5 exercise book, various pens/makers, chalk and blackboard paint.

Dimensions: Variable

 

The Safe in Schools Desk has travelled around the community, delivering and collecting interactions and creating conversations. It was created for TasPride's 2016 Artfully Queer Defiance. Interactors were invited to participate in a reflective activity remembering what it was like for LGBTIQ kids at school and writing in support of, and to, LGBTIQ school students. 

It appeared again at the Penny Contemporary for a special TasPride Artfully Queer Retrospective where it gathered and delivered additional messages of support. The highlight of its journey was at the Tasmanian Safe In Schools Program Award Ceremony (Department of Education 2016), where delivered its messages of love and support directly to LGBTIQ students who were attending the event. The students were able to receive the accumulated messages of support and additionally wrote their own thoughts and advice for each other, and most importantly, to themselves.

 

Awards:

TasPride 2016 Artfully Queer, Best in Show.

Tasmanian Safe in Schools Program Award Ceremony 2016 - Special rainbow glitter award of appreciation for creating the Safe In Schools Desk 2016]

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Technical Support: Dr Phillip Blacklow

Thanks to: TasPride Inc, Working it Out, Xris Reardon and participating interactors.