In late 2022, Lotterywest provided funds to ReMida for Storytellers, a project that involved collecting 1000 stories from people across WA over fourteen months. The Virtual Campfire is the last chance to share a story with the Project before we begin collating the works for our final exhibition.
What’s a Virtual Campfire?
Campfires are one of humanity’s earliest modes for sharing and remembering stories. The Virtual Campfire is an online gallery where stories can be added and shared with others. How you share the story as an image, text, or recording depends entirely on how you feel the story is best told. Once the submissions are received, they will be placed or linked to the gallery, depending on the file size, and then tagged on ReMida’s Facebook and Instagram. We hope that people will continue to engage with the Virtual Campfire and that the Project will continue to stoke the flames of storytelling well into the future.
That sounds exciting, but what counts as a story?
Throughout the Project, we have kept the definition of a story open and have not limited what people may decide to share. Thus far, we have received visual pieces, sculptures, written works, recordings, and pieces. What they have in common is a person’s desire to share something with others, and while that may challenge storytelling conventions, we have greatly enjoyed what people have shared with us along the way. If you follow the link to the Virtual Campfire, you will find an online submission form where you can type a story as text and hit submit. If you have a file or link to share, these can be emailed to frontdesk@remidawa.com.
Can the story be anonymous?
Yes. We will remove these from the gallery if you want us to share the story but not the author/creator details.
What can’t I share?
At the beginning of the Project, we created the Storytellers’ Charter, which essentially says that your submission is not intended to hurt another person, you included. A story can be thought-provoking, edgy, or controversial, but a campfire is primarily a safe place, and we are keen to ensure the sharing of stories remains safe for everyone.
How long do I have?
Your story will be included in the end-of-project gallery until the 7th of June. After that time, you can still contribute to the Campfire, but the submissions will move into the next round of galleries.
I have an existing work to share; is that okay?
Certainly, you are most welcome to share an existing work as a digital image for inclusion in the Campfire.
How do I interact with a submission?
As the gallery takes shape, each submission will have a tag that you can use to share your responses to another person’s work. Again, it is okay to react to a story, but it’s also a safe space, so we will keep an eye on responses to preserve everyone’s wellbeing.
How do I stay in the loop with gallery updates?
If you’d like to avoid social media or subscriber options, check the website occasionally to see what is new. If you would like to be notified of things happening, subscribing to the website and following us on Facebook is the way to go.
Roll up your virtual sleeves and share a story with us. For the moment, the main gallery will serve as the embers of inspiration as you look for ideas; once submissions for the Campfire come in, we will add them to the corresponding gallery on the page.
We may already have our submission on its way; we are just waiting to see if the artist wants to add additional illustrations to their piece. Stay close to the Campfire; you will see the submission once it is live.
I’m looking forward to experiencing the final gallery! I loved the variety of stories and the ways they were shared at the last exhibition