Why Are Holiday Memories Culturally Significant?

Arts Monday’s Jane Raffan chats with Dr Lee-Anne Hall, co-curator and director of Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, and takes an in-depth look at the exhibition Holiday + Memory, which explores the annual holiday experience of mid 20th century Australia – places ventured to, and experiences had and found along the way.

Largely celebratory, Holiday + Memory also investigates the way we filter experiences through collective memory, the means by which community traditions are shaped and maintained, and by which we cohere as a nation. The featured artists mesh individual experience with collective memory to reveal and question how places and artefacts of the holiday experience are invested in the national psyche. Collectively, these artworks communicate our belonging to place and its stories and mythology with affection, nostalgia, wit and razor sharp observation.

Program blog: https://eastsidefm.org/2014/02/arts-monday-10-february-2014/