Muslim Women's Art Project of Australia Nears Ready

THE AUSTRALIAN
By Ian Cuthbertson

Alissar Chidiac, Producer of the Muslim Women's Art Project

AUSTRALIA - On the outskirts of western Sydney, the Casula Powerhouse is a suburban cultural oasis. Restored from derelict status to an elegant arts pavilion in 1994, the building sits in a quiet pasture, the silence broken only by the chiming of bellbirds and the occasional thrum of a train. It is to this bucolic setting that community arts producer Alissar Chidiac has been brought to finalise the Muslim Women's Art Project, a national arts engagement initiative funded by the Human Rights Commission and the Australia Council for the Arts. The art forms include installation, photography, henna, painting, etching, textiles, jewellery, sculpture, sound and video, and the project has been invested with grand ambitions such as creating a dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. "The Muslim women in our project are from very diverse backgrounds," she says. [link]