As you walk through Bankstown, you’ll be invited to view the landmarks that are personal to the artists and to see the city through their fresh eyes.
This isn’t just a tour – it’s a chance to connect, empathise and celebrate the local voices that make Bankstown uniquely special, according to one of the featured writers, Rania Omar.
Showcasing Bankstown Library in her monologue, Rania likens its welcoming warmth and its wealth of cluttered stories to her Tayta (Grandmother).
“But behind that smile … generational burdens threaten to disturb the peace,” Rania writes.
“There are books strewn across tables, opened to pages of grief, loss, longing and hope … but then Tayta’s smile returns … and Bankstown Library brings comfort like tiger blankets and turkish rugs.”
Likewise among the other 11 young writers featured, Ashton Salei writes about Bankstown Gospel Hall attendees “creating their bed frames from these walls, for where they wished to lay their head for eternity … As tears of silence and whispers of prayer fill the corners of the room.“
Other landmarks featured include Paul Keating Park, Bankstown Station, Pho Minh Temple, Bankstown Arts Centre, Amitabha Buddhist Association and Marion Street.
The artists have been mentored by local author Kavita Bedford and Outloud’s director-dramaturg Finn Ó Branagáin, with the stories recorded by All The Best from FBi Radio.
To take the walking tour: outloud.org.au.
See local landmarks through fresh eyes during Stories From Here tour
GIVING local landmarks a larger-than-life persona, youth arts organisation Outloud’s ‘Stories From Here’ is an audio walking tour of Bankstown featuring recorded monologues written by local young people aged 16-24 about their experiences in the area and the places that matter to them.