Young people being recognised

Today we are sharing the RED Carpet Youth Award nominees in the Visual Arts and Media and Advocacy and Action awards.

From displaying images in Retro Lane's outdoor lightboxes to creating Aboriginal education resources for Wodonga Council’s preschools, these are a talented bunch.

Visual Arts and Media Award:

Grace King, 18

Photography has been a huge part of Grace's life for the past seven years.

Grace started out photographing equestrian events at local pony clubs and agricultural shows.

This led to selling the photos through her business page on Facebook.

Grace has expanded her subject matter and photographic techniques, which range from studio photography to travel and event photography.

Her broad range of photography resulted in Grace becoming a ‘social media influencer’ via Instagram.

An overseas school trip to Russia and Germany taught Grace a lot about photographic techniques and she was fortunate enough to have the school use her photographs for promotional material.

In the past 12 months, Grace was able to explore portraiture photography as a part of her year 12 studio arts course.

Three of Grace’s final images have been on display in Retro Lane’s outdoor lightboxes in Albury since November 2018.

Grace won the ‘highly commended’ overall for her black and white portrait ‘The emotional effects of societal pressures’ at the Mitta Mitta Easter Art Show this year.

Jasmine (Jay) Butterworth, 16

Jay likes to think of herself as a budding young filmmaker and artist.

The year 11 Wodonga Senior Secondary College student has been living in Wodonga for the past five years and enjoys creating artwork and videos that make people think about what the meaning might be.

As someone who has always been interested in art, she finds making videos and drawing a fun pastime that helps her relax.

Jay hopes to pursuit a career in filmmaking where she is able to create content that many people will enjoy.

Carliegh Walsh, 16

Carliegh is a proud upcoming Aboriginal artist from the Wiradjuri region.

In year 7, she joined the Felltimber Koorie Art Club at Wodonga Middle Years College.

It was in the art club that her art and friendships merged.

Carliegh’s art started to feature her friendships as they are of great importance to the teenager.

She loves being there for her friends and supporting them in troubled times.

Carliegh’s artwork developed a theme of meeting places, ‘waterholes’ and ‘turtle lakes’. These meeting places are a cultural representative of friendships.

Some of Carliegh’s art is on display at the Eddie Kneebone Gallery at Wodonga TAFE and are also incorporated into the glass doors at The Department of Justice Building in Wodonga.

Carliegh has recently created some Aboriginal education resources, which are being used by Wodonga Council’s preschools.

She is involved in a program at Baranduda Primay School where she is assisting in recreating stories into Koorie art, with children retelling the stories in their own words.

Carliegh is passionate about sharing her culture with young people as they create art together and wants to pursue a career in working with children.

Olive Cribbes, 18

Olive likes to use her talent for art to express positive mental health messages.

The year 12 student is a natural and caring leader amongst her peers and is known at her college for producing work of a very high standard.

Olive’s art portfolio is no exception to this and she has incorporated her passions together; art and talking about positive mental health.

Exploring issues of mental health through her artwork is important to Olive, who uses collage and mixed media as her main mediums.

Olive speaks openly about her own struggles with anxiety and performance anxiety, saying she often feels she places high expectations on herself.

She was a member of the Red Carpet Youth Awards 2018 Committee and liaised beautifully with her peers, presenting like a professional on stage.

Olive entered an artwork into the North East Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service art competition ‘What mental health means to you’ and her artwork hangs proudly on the walls of the service’s building.

Advocacy and Action Award:

Charles Zhang, 17

Wodonga is Charles’ second home after he was born and raised in China and came to live here in 2017.

The Wodonga Senior Secondary College student is passionate about climate change and says the voice of young people needs to be louder.

He believes the voice of young people needs to be heard by the people who have the power to make change to legislation and laws.

Charles recently saw an opportunity to organise a friendly protest on climate change, gathering a group of young people together who also demonstrate a passion to care for the environment.

They protested to a local political member about a controversial mining application in Australia.

Charles also enjoys giving back to the community, assisting with a bread run for the River Community Church several times a month.  

Jack Redcliffe, 16 Jack is always helping others.

His selfless approach sees him give back to the community in many ways including volunteering with community organisations such as Carevan.

The year 11 Wodonga Senior Secondary College student has two brothers who have personal challenges that have a big impact on the family and how they function.

Jack is always able to see the bright side of things and is an advocate for marginalised people.

His passion for helping others is evident when he helps cook each week for Carevan and makes sandwiches for local primary school students who may go without.

Most recently, Jack helped host a movie night to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention for the Winter Solstice for Friends and Survivors of Suicide.

Jack is also a supporter of the Wodonga Jets, an all-abilities football team that he helps by running water to players, working in the canteen and scoring each week at home and away games.

He also assists the players with emotional support, encouraging and motivating them at training and during games.

Mentoring is a role that Jack enjoys on a weekly basis.

Every Tuesday night he takes a young man aged in his early 20s to the gym for boxing classes to build the young man’s social capacity and help his fitness.

Ben Coulston, 17

Ben is an all-rounder who enjoys playing most sports and being involved in extra-curricular school activities.

Most recently he and his school class helped organise a movie night at Regent Cinemas to raise money for the Winter Solstice, which raised awareness about mental health in the community.

The movie night was a success and Ben was asked to talk in front of the large audience, which helped boost his confidence.

Ben feels it is important to be open and talk with others about mental health and the impact it has on people’s lives.

His ambition for the future is to obtain an apprenticeship in carpentry.

Indigo (Whiskey) Boag, 19

Among friends Indigo likes to go by the name Whiskey and identifies as non-binary, making the announcement while completing year 10.

While Indigo had supportive friends, most people could not comprehend that Indigo wasn’t a girl or boy and uses they/them pronouns.

After joining the Alphabet Crew, an LGBTIQ+ youth group organised by WayOut Wodonga, it was like a breath of fresh air for Indigo.

Even though the group was small, Indigo immediately felt welcome and wanted to give others the same relief and sense of belonging.

It’s been more than two years since Indigo's first time at Alphabet Crew and Indigo is a current volunteer with WayOut Wodonga.

As well as being compassionate and loud, Indigo always loved art and tries to bring joy through artwork.

Indigo designed the “You’re Welcome Here” poster, as well as the current Alphabet Crew poster, and assisted with the Gender Identity Group poster.