Suzi is a local artist in the City of Whittlesea. Her incredible life experiences have informed her photography, art making and her commitment to working with the community.
“As a local community worker and artist, I have found that art, in the broadest context helps break down barriers. It is a great education tool and is a critical form of expression for all those who find it difficult to express themselves in other ways.”
Suzi originally studied to be a dietitian, however found Community Development work was where her heart was. She was the first woman to learn welding at Swinburne Technical College while studying bronze casting and lead lighting.
She has spent time in India as a community development worker, including in a Leper Colony and she worked in a refugee camp in Sudan for people with Tuberculosis.
Suzi learnt to fly in December 1990 and became a commercial pilot in 1993 and a flying Instructor in 1995. She designed a hand control so that people with lower limb disabilities could fly and set up a scholarship program for people with disabilities called “Wheelies with Wings”. This is where her passion for photography began.
“Flying around Australia I saw the incredible beauty of the land below which inspired me to start photographing it.”
Suzi says her aim with photography is to take every day, ordinary aspects of nature that all of us can look at but very rarely see, and put them in a situation that is completely out of context hoping to make people actually look at and see the beauty around them.
“As a community worker in the arts area, working with people who are disadvantaged, especially kids, my aim is to facilitate them to create and achieve what they thought they may not be able to. Seeing how art does inspire people to achieve in other areas of their life is what inspires me to continue.”
The mural was created as part of the “Beautification of Thomastown” project. Suzi worked with 50 kids over three classes and 32 different countries to create the mural. The students were asked to visually link their cultural background to their life here now in Australia.
“One of the many things that really thrilled me was that, towards the end of the project some countries had a lot of images and some very few and the kids were very quick to help each other fill in gaps.”
The Thomastown Primary School mural can be found on the northern boundary of the School in High St.
First published: City of Whittlesea Creative Catch up November 2021
Photo: Thomastown Primary School principal Marion Wetherbee, Suzi Duncan, and art teacher Rocca Polatos with the new mural at Thomastown Primary School. Photo by Sandy Caldow.
