Rebuilding through the lens: Locals invited to share flood stories in unique photo project

By Taylah Baker

Oct 27, 2023

**Big picture:** Photographer Cam Matheson is asking locals to have their photo taken with an object symbolising their experience of the 2022 October floods. Photo by Cam Matheson

Shepparton Festival, alongside Greater Shepparton City Council’s Resilience in Recovery program, is embodying a picture to be worth a thousand words through their newest project.

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For An Item of Connection, a portrait series by photographer Cam Matheson, locals are invited to share their stories and experiences of the 2022 October floods.

At several pop-up locations around the Goulburn Valley, locals can have their photos taken with an object of their choice.

The object should represent their experience throughout the floods. It could symbolise what has been lost, something that was rediscovered, something related to volunteer work or even represent a positive experience, such as connecting to a neighbour.

There’ll also be an option to record a story about the object to accompany the photographs.

Mr Matheson is not only a photographer with over a decade of experience, he is a Toolamba resident who lost all his possessions to the flood on October 15.

“I think it’s only just now that we can start talking about it properly,” he said.

“For the past year, we’ve all been occupied with insurance companies and tradies and clean-up; some of us are only just now moving back into our homes and for a lot of us, this is the first time we have the head space to start talking about how it affected us.

“Regional communities are really good at looking out for each other, but there’s still a lot of healing and mental recovery to do, and I hope this project can share stories from one side of the valley to the other so that someone’s story of how they dealt with the grief or clean-up in Bunbartha can resonate with someone from Murchison.”

Council’s manager of flood recovery Carla Dixon said the team was pleased to support Mr Matheson and the Shepparton Festival in creating this powerful exhibition.

“Every community member had a different experience during this time, and people are still working through different stages of their recovery,” she said.

“We encourage people to come along to one of the sessions to share their stories as part of their recovery journey.”

The photographs will be displayed in a large-scale outdoor exhibition in Shepparton as part of the 2024 Shepparton Festival before touring to surrounding communities.

Photography sessions are open from now until the end of the year.

Locals can book a session or drop in at one of the following pop-up’s listed on the Shepparton Festival website: https://sheppartonfestival.org.au/

More venues and dates will be announced via the Shepparton Festival website, Facebook and Instagram, and the Resilience in Recovery Facebook.