February 11, 2022 • 22 mins
Lella Cariddi OAM is a writer/researcher of community history, curator of contemporary art, documentary producer, installation artist, adult educator and Community Cultural Development Practitioner. She is committed to the advancement of literatures and the Arts as a vehicle for intergenerational social inclusion between mainstream Australian Society and immigrants & refugees.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lella Cariddi (00:03):
And there, there was a, a woman, a little woman in the shape
of a nun who had the wisdom, becausein those days there weren't English
language classes, she would fill upblackboards for the 50 students in
the class that there was the sizeof the class in the mid fifties.
(00:25):
She would fill the blackboards upwith work for the class to work
on and take me on the veranda.
And she use simple objectsto teach me English.
You'd say this is a pencil andthis is a ruler, or this is
a saucer, or this is a cup.
Nat Grant (00:47):
Welcome to season five of the Prima Donna podcast, Sonic
portraits of Australian artists.
These episodes comprise interviewrecordings and original music, celebrating
creative elders across all disciplines.
The second episode in this seriesfeatures Lella Cariddi OAM.
Lella is a writer, researcher of communityhistory, curator of contemporary art
(01:10):
documentary producer, installationartists, adult educator, and community
cultural development practitioner.
She is committed to the advancementof literatures and the arts as a
vehicle for intergenerational socialinclusion between mainstream, Australian
society and immigrants and refugees.
Lella Cariddi (01:38):
My name is Lella Cariddi I was born in Italy during troubled times.
And.
came to Australia in 1955, sincethen I have lived in regional cities.
I lived on a farm.
(02:01):
For the past 60 years or thereabout I lived in Melbourne
life itself, I think is creative.
Uh, and a dynamic life is a creative life.
Having said that I was blessed to beborn in a family of creative women,
(02:29):
part out or necessity, but part outof a personal desire to do things, to
create things, for example, During thewar, there was very little of anything
(02:51):
and it was through my grandmothers,through my aunties, through my
mother's creative thinking thatwe didn't go hungry because.
We didn't cook to a recipe, whateverthere, you know, you put things
together as, as a season came aroundor whatever was available in season
(03:17):
in terms of clothing, we made allour clothes, but not just sewing.
That'd be whole.
Bundle of raw wool from, froma sheep, just been shorn.
And we go through the entire process,which would include, you know,
(03:38):
drenching the wool to clean it.
Cutting, spinning it.
And then turned into garment and mymother and my aunties, you know, whenever
they stepped out, looked as if they'djust been to the most fashionable shop.
You could imagine because thosegarments were created with love,
(04:02):
you know, for beauty, for, you know,for comfort, but also for beauty.
I think that engaging in anintergenerational way enables me to think
(04:23):
forward rather to think towards gettingold or towards ageing, or towards death.
So in a way I think itkeeps my thinking young and.
I'm the beneficiary of that, youknow, I hope that the young, younger
people also gain something from it,
(04:52):
apart from embroidery, knittingand sewing, those things, which I
did out of necessity, and really.
didn't appreciate whatI was leaving behind.
In all my public work, I work creatively.
(05:15):
For example, in 1990, I was workingin a women's education program at
Footscray women's learning center.
And.
Devised a way of teachingEnglish through doing things.
So instead of, um, the women sittingin the room, you know, and the teacher
sitting up there, everyone becamea teacher and they would teach each
(05:40):
other, the cooking of their traditionallife or their traditional land.
And we got a government grant andthey became a catering group and
that did well for a number of years.
(06:01):
And then from Footscray women's learningcenter, I went to Collingwood college
of TAFE where I established an immigrantwomen's learning center, which was
the first in Australia at the time.
And again, looked at why.
Teaching English in an engaged andcreative way and got a grant from the
(06:26):
Australia council and women from sixdifferent heritage create images, which
were evocative of, of the culture,their culture, and their heritage.
And those panels.
Now reside with museum Victoria.
(06:47):
From there.
I went to mercy hospital for women andthey wanted me to set up a department
for interpreting service, which I did.
But at the same time I was saying,well, this is not going anywhere.
Nothing will change if we don't alsoeducate the health professionals,
(07:08):
the doctors and nurses, the midwives.
And that became a verybroad community engagement.
We got a grant from the federal governmentand we undertook research and we published
that research and it was in 2004 thatI actually left, paid employment.
(07:29):
My mother had died.
And, for some reason, which I still can'texplain because it wasn't, it wasn't as
if my mother and I never had differenceof opinions we were both strong women.
And so we did have difference of opinion,but when my mother died, it left a
(07:51):
huge vacuum in my life and I didn'tknow what to do or how to deal with it.
So.
In speaking with a friend of mine who alsoan immigrant, she came from Amsterdam.
We put our money, uh, uh, what Iinherited from my mother, we put our
money and we developed, a festivalfor literatures in translation.
(08:18):
And we brought people together atthe VCA held in Federation hall.
This international poetryfestival called In Other Words.
And we had poets from China, from Japan,from all over Australia that shared the
platform and contributed over three days.
(08:39):
Unfortunately, the Australianmedia didn't appreciate and
lack of interest by the media inmulticultural affairs has never waned.
Really.
You know, if, if truth be known.
On the strength of that, thenI was approached if I wanted to
(09:04):
present a monthly program of poetryreading at Federation square and
like a hole in the head, I said,yes, now all this was all unpaid.
As I say, for the festival,we're putting their own money.
And between 2006 and 2013, I curatedthis monthly program of poetry
(09:27):
reading at Federation square andbrought poets together from all
over Melbourne, all over Australia.
So the world poetry festival wasauspiced by multicultural arts,
Victoria, so multicultural arts Victoriagot to know about my work, our work.
(09:50):
And on the strength of that, then in 2014,they invited me to explore the possibility
of stories for the pier festival.
So it was an experiment they didn't know.
I didn't know whether anyonewas interested in participating.
The Pier Festival used to be presentedon Australia day 26th of January.
(10:17):
And I was approached late Februarythe year before was, uh, a Chinese
new year's dinner that we were at.
And then they said, and if you getany response, then we can feature
them at next year's Piers Festival.
(10:41):
Using the process.
Again, I use a processof community development.
You start from the bottom up.
I don't impose things on, on participants.
There was such a, uh, anavalanche of interest.
That by August, we had so many storiesand so many objects and so , so many
(11:06):
mementos that people sort of broughtforward, that we were able to Mount
a number of little exhibitions.
And at this juncture I need tosay how fundamental libraries
have been in my creative life.
Always within the library set upthat I was able to develop things.
(11:32):
So that was the beginning ofwhat happened at the pier.
And then other elements developedfrom that instead of me going
out, people are contacting me.
Also developed storytelling at thediamond valley regional library, which
(11:55):
is in the Northeast, of Melbourne.
And we did a little publication,we did a booklet with those stories.
We held an all day event where therewas speakers and readers and the authors
actually told their story to the audience.
(12:16):
And it just grew from that
I was contacted by the, the projectofficer at wellsprings for women who said,
we're thinking of applying for a grantto do a project with immigrant women.
Would you be interested?
And I said, well, yes, see, seewhat happens and let me know.
(12:38):
And later in the year, last year theycontacted me and said, we got the grant.
Are you still interested and I said yes.
By then COVID interfered.
So we're running behind, but we'rereally ready to go in 2022 to develop
(13:00):
individual storytelling and tocapture those unique experiences.
It's about highlighting the contributionthat migrant women have made to
Dandenong right across the sphere.
(13:22):
It's not just a single single approach.
For example, some, someoneis an artist, but she also
coordinates a community art center.
Someone else is a counselor with refugees.
And she's been doing thatfor many, many years.
(13:45):
Someone else whose name was Joyce Rebeiro.
Soon as you mention her everybodyknows who she was because she was
an activist for the trafficking ofwomen and other community development.
She'd be the only one atthis stage because she died.
So she'd be the only one whowould be represented posthumously
(14:09):
by friends and family.
That's just an example.
The area that women engage in.
So it would be absolutely, um,cross-cultural and multidimensional.
Yeah.
In, in a creative and representative way.
(14:31):
So we plan to record their storiesand, and if we can find some
money, also publish them, uh,both, um, in print form, as a book.
But also as a podcast.
(14:54):
My first public job again, was unpaid.
I responded to a call thatwas in the local paper.
It was in the local Footscray paper theywe're looking for honorary probation,
officers to work the children's court.
So I saw that and I thoughtthis is, this is appealing.
(15:16):
This is interesting.
So I applied and they interviewedme and I was successful.
And from that, then I got a jobas a youth worker at COASIT,
the Italian welfare agency.
And I realized that I really needsome professional training because you
know, working through the children'scourt was an incredible experience,
(15:40):
but I needed broader understanding,you know, of youth work and what it
would entail and that sort of thing.
So I went and did acertificate in youth work.
And then I transitioned to adult women'seducation and I felt that there were
(16:05):
gaps that really I need pick up on.
So I was fortunate to be able to do agraduate diploma in community development.
That took me throughquite a number of years.
And then because of all these differentaspects of creativity that I also
(16:28):
introduced in the work that I was doing,I felt that I really need again, to
validate what I was doing, but to learnmore about the intricacies of curating.
So again I was very fortunate that Iwas able to do a master's in curatorial
studies at the university of Tasmania.
(16:50):
So it started off, I suppose you couldsay feeding my own ego, but eventually,
um, I was able to validate those,those experience, you know, through
skills and studies and so forth.
Yeah.
(17:16):
I think if I was to say the mostsignificant thing that I did in
public life, it would be difficultfor me to single one project.
I suppose it would have to be, whichI didn't talk about would have to
(17:38):
be a project called 'Reciproco'reciprocal, which brought together
contemporary Italian artists fromItaly to collaborate with contemporary
Australian artists of Italian heritage.
(18:01):
And that was a rich collaborative project.
Um, I've worked with luminarieslike the Domenico Declario, Wilma
Tabacco, uh, a number in a well-knownAustralian, Australian artists.
I suppose in terms of my own cultureand heritage, there would have
(18:23):
been most significant, but whatI have not managed as yet to do.
And there's a lot of pressure on me todo something, is document anything about
my own family or my own social history.
So I'm not sure where thatwill take me, but it needs to.
(18:59):
It would be remiss of me, notto acknowledge, the people that
really inspired me along the way.
Um, and starting off with when Ifirst arrived in Australia, because
I spoke no English, none whatsoever,and my family thought it would be
good to go to school for a littlewhile just to pick up some English.
(19:21):
So I could work in a factory and Iwas sent to the local school where
they put me in a class of girlswho are four years younger than me.
And there, there was a woman, a littlewoman in the shape of a nun who had
(19:46):
the wisdom, because in those days thereweren't English language classes, she
would fill up blackboards for the 50students in the class that there was
a size of the class in the mid 50s.
She would fill the blackboards up withwork for the class to work on and take
(20:06):
me on the veranda and she'd use simpleobjects to teach me English, she's say
this is a pencil and this is a ruler,or this is a saucer, or this was a cup.
Without her, I would simplywould not have got anywhere.
So there've been women along the way.
(20:29):
And then the woman who wasrecruiting her name was Mary.
I forgot her surname who wasrecruiting honorary probation officers.
You know, if she hadn't put herhand upand say, look, get in touch with me.
Who knows what would have happened?
(20:51):
The senior social worker at COASIT whotook me on, you know, going through
life and engaging diverse experience.
There are always people you knowthat really prop you up and support
you, encourage you and inspire you.
(21:11):
And, and most recently, um, that personhas been Jill Morgan, who was the
CEO and multicultural arts Victoria.
When we set about, um, to developthe festival poetry and translation,
and then who invited me to experimentwith, uh, what happened at the Pier
(21:34):
and who, who continues to support andencouraged me in, in creative ways.
Nat Grant (21:47):
You've been listening to the Prima Donna podcast, Sonic
portraits of Australian artists formore information about the project
and to hear more episodes like thisone, visit prima Donna podcast.com.
This podcast was produced on thelands of the Wurundjeri people
of the Kulin nation, and I payrespects to elders past and present.
And there, there was a, a woman, a little woman in the shape
of a nun who had the wisdom, becausein those days there weren't English
language classes, she would fill upblackboards for the 50 students in
the class that there was the sizeof the class in the mid fifties.
(00:25):
She would fill the blackboards upwith work for the class to work
on and take me on the veranda.
And she use simple objectsto teach me English.
You'd say this is a pencil andthis is a ruler, or this is
a saucer, or this is a cup.
Nat Grant (00:47):
Welcome to season five of the Prima Donna podcast, Sonic
portraits of Australian artists.
These episodes comprise interviewrecordings and original music, celebrating
creative elders across all disciplines.
The second episode in this seriesfeatures Lella Cariddi OAM.
Lella is a writer, researcher of communityhistory, curator of contemporary art
(01:10):
documentary producer, installationartists, adult educator, and community
cultural development practitioner.
She is committed to the advancementof literatures and the arts as a
vehicle for intergenerational socialinclusion between mainstream, Australian
society and immigrants and refugees.
Lella Cariddi (01:38):
My name is Lella Cariddi I was born in Italy during troubled times.
And.
came to Australia in 1955, sincethen I have lived in regional cities.
I lived on a farm.
(02:01):
For the past 60 years or thereabout I lived in Melbourne
life itself, I think is creative.
Uh, and a dynamic life is a creative life.
Having said that I was blessed to beborn in a family of creative women,
(02:29):
part out or necessity, but part outof a personal desire to do things, to
create things, for example, During thewar, there was very little of anything
(02:51):
and it was through my grandmothers,through my aunties, through my
mother's creative thinking thatwe didn't go hungry because.
We didn't cook to a recipe, whateverthere, you know, you put things
together as, as a season came aroundor whatever was available in season
(03:17):
in terms of clothing, we made allour clothes, but not just sewing.
That'd be whole.
Bundle of raw wool from, froma sheep, just been shorn.
And we go through the entire process,which would include, you know,
(03:38):
drenching the wool to clean it.
Cutting, spinning it.
And then turned into garment and mymother and my aunties, you know, whenever
they stepped out, looked as if they'djust been to the most fashionable shop.
You could imagine because thosegarments were created with love,
(04:02):
you know, for beauty, for, you know,for comfort, but also for beauty.
I think that engaging in anintergenerational way enables me to think
(04:23):
forward rather to think towards gettingold or towards ageing, or towards death.
So in a way I think itkeeps my thinking young and.
I'm the beneficiary of that, youknow, I hope that the young, younger
people also gain something from it,
(04:52):
apart from embroidery, knittingand sewing, those things, which I
did out of necessity, and really.
didn't appreciate whatI was leaving behind.
In all my public work, I work creatively.
(05:15):
For example, in 1990, I was workingin a women's education program at
Footscray women's learning center.
And.
Devised a way of teachingEnglish through doing things.
So instead of, um, the women sittingin the room, you know, and the teacher
sitting up there, everyone becamea teacher and they would teach each
(05:40):
other, the cooking of their traditionallife or their traditional land.
And we got a government grant andthey became a catering group and
that did well for a number of years.
(06:01):
And then from Footscray women's learningcenter, I went to Collingwood college
of TAFE where I established an immigrantwomen's learning center, which was
the first in Australia at the time.
And again, looked at why.
Teaching English in an engaged andcreative way and got a grant from the
(06:26):
Australia council and women from sixdifferent heritage create images, which
were evocative of, of the culture,their culture, and their heritage.
And those panels.
Now reside with museum Victoria.
(06:47):
From there.
I went to mercy hospital for women andthey wanted me to set up a department
for interpreting service, which I did.
But at the same time I was saying,well, this is not going anywhere.
Nothing will change if we don't alsoeducate the health professionals,
(07:08):
the doctors and nurses, the midwives.
And that became a verybroad community engagement.
We got a grant from the federal governmentand we undertook research and we published
that research and it was in 2004 thatI actually left, paid employment.
(07:29):
My mother had died.
And, for some reason, which I still can'texplain because it wasn't, it wasn't as
if my mother and I never had differenceof opinions we were both strong women.
And so we did have difference of opinion,but when my mother died, it left a
(07:51):
huge vacuum in my life and I didn'tknow what to do or how to deal with it.
So.
In speaking with a friend of mine who alsoan immigrant, she came from Amsterdam.
We put our money, uh, uh, what Iinherited from my mother, we put our
money and we developed, a festivalfor literatures in translation.
(08:18):
And we brought people together atthe VCA held in Federation hall.
This international poetryfestival called In Other Words.
And we had poets from China, from Japan,from all over Australia that shared the
platform and contributed over three days.
(08:39):
Unfortunately, the Australianmedia didn't appreciate and
lack of interest by the media inmulticultural affairs has never waned.
Really.
You know, if, if truth be known.
On the strength of that, thenI was approached if I wanted to
(09:04):
present a monthly program of poetryreading at Federation square and
like a hole in the head, I said,yes, now all this was all unpaid.
As I say, for the festival,we're putting their own money.
And between 2006 and 2013, I curatedthis monthly program of poetry
(09:27):
reading at Federation square andbrought poets together from all
over Melbourne, all over Australia.
So the world poetry festival wasauspiced by multicultural arts,
Victoria, so multicultural arts Victoriagot to know about my work, our work.
(09:50):
And on the strength of that, then in 2014,they invited me to explore the possibility
of stories for the pier festival.
So it was an experiment they didn't know.
I didn't know whether anyonewas interested in participating.
The Pier Festival used to be presentedon Australia day 26th of January.
(10:17):
And I was approached late Februarythe year before was, uh, a Chinese
new year's dinner that we were at.
And then they said, and if you getany response, then we can feature
them at next year's Piers Festival.
(10:41):
Using the process.
Again, I use a processof community development.
You start from the bottom up.
I don't impose things on, on participants.
There was such a, uh, anavalanche of interest.
That by August, we had so many storiesand so many objects and so , so many
(11:06):
mementos that people sort of broughtforward, that we were able to Mount
a number of little exhibitions.
And at this juncture I need tosay how fundamental libraries
have been in my creative life.
Always within the library set upthat I was able to develop things.
(11:32):
So that was the beginning ofwhat happened at the pier.
And then other elements developedfrom that instead of me going
out, people are contacting me.
Also developed storytelling at thediamond valley regional library, which
(11:55):
is in the Northeast, of Melbourne.
And we did a little publication,we did a booklet with those stories.
We held an all day event where therewas speakers and readers and the authors
actually told their story to the audience.
(12:16):
And it just grew from that
I was contacted by the, the projectofficer at wellsprings for women who said,
we're thinking of applying for a grantto do a project with immigrant women.
Would you be interested?
And I said, well, yes, see, seewhat happens and let me know.
(12:38):
And later in the year, last year theycontacted me and said, we got the grant.
Are you still interested and I said yes.
By then COVID interfered.
So we're running behind, but we'rereally ready to go in 2022 to develop
(13:00):
individual storytelling and tocapture those unique experiences.
It's about highlighting the contributionthat migrant women have made to
Dandenong right across the sphere.
(13:22):
It's not just a single single approach.
For example, some, someoneis an artist, but she also
coordinates a community art center.
Someone else is a counselor with refugees.
And she's been doing thatfor many, many years.
(13:45):
Someone else whose name was Joyce Rebeiro.
Soon as you mention her everybodyknows who she was because she was
an activist for the trafficking ofwomen and other community development.
She'd be the only one atthis stage because she died.
So she'd be the only one whowould be represented posthumously
(14:09):
by friends and family.
That's just an example.
The area that women engage in.
So it would be absolutely, um,cross-cultural and multidimensional.
Yeah.
In, in a creative and representative way.
(14:31):
So we plan to record their storiesand, and if we can find some
money, also publish them, uh,both, um, in print form, as a book.
But also as a podcast.
(14:54):
My first public job again, was unpaid.
I responded to a call thatwas in the local paper.
It was in the local Footscray paper theywe're looking for honorary probation,
officers to work the children's court.
So I saw that and I thoughtthis is, this is appealing.
(15:16):
This is interesting.
So I applied and they interviewedme and I was successful.
And from that, then I got a jobas a youth worker at COASIT,
the Italian welfare agency.
And I realized that I really needsome professional training because you
know, working through the children'scourt was an incredible experience,
(15:40):
but I needed broader understanding,you know, of youth work and what it
would entail and that sort of thing.
So I went and did acertificate in youth work.
And then I transitioned to adult women'seducation and I felt that there were
(16:05):
gaps that really I need pick up on.
So I was fortunate to be able to do agraduate diploma in community development.
That took me throughquite a number of years.
And then because of all these differentaspects of creativity that I also
(16:28):
introduced in the work that I was doing,I felt that I really need again, to
validate what I was doing, but to learnmore about the intricacies of curating.
So again I was very fortunate that Iwas able to do a master's in curatorial
studies at the university of Tasmania.
(16:50):
So it started off, I suppose you couldsay feeding my own ego, but eventually,
um, I was able to validate those,those experience, you know, through
skills and studies and so forth.
Yeah.
(17:16):
I think if I was to say the mostsignificant thing that I did in
public life, it would be difficultfor me to single one project.
I suppose it would have to be, whichI didn't talk about would have to
(17:38):
be a project called 'Reciproco'reciprocal, which brought together
contemporary Italian artists fromItaly to collaborate with contemporary
Australian artists of Italian heritage.
(18:01):
And that was a rich collaborative project.
Um, I've worked with luminarieslike the Domenico Declario, Wilma
Tabacco, uh, a number in a well-knownAustralian, Australian artists.
I suppose in terms of my own cultureand heritage, there would have
(18:23):
been most significant, but whatI have not managed as yet to do.
And there's a lot of pressure on me todo something, is document anything about
my own family or my own social history.
So I'm not sure where thatwill take me, but it needs to.
(18:59):
It would be remiss of me, notto acknowledge, the people that
really inspired me along the way.
Um, and starting off with when Ifirst arrived in Australia, because
I spoke no English, none whatsoever,and my family thought it would be
good to go to school for a littlewhile just to pick up some English.
(19:21):
So I could work in a factory and Iwas sent to the local school where
they put me in a class of girlswho are four years younger than me.
And there, there was a woman, a littlewoman in the shape of a nun who had
(19:46):
the wisdom, because in those days thereweren't English language classes, she
would fill up blackboards for the 50students in the class that there was
a size of the class in the mid 50s.
She would fill the blackboards up withwork for the class to work on and take
(20:06):
me on the veranda and she'd use simpleobjects to teach me English, she's say
this is a pencil and this is a ruler,or this is a saucer, or this was a cup.
Without her, I would simplywould not have got anywhere.
So there've been women along the way.
(20:29):
And then the woman who wasrecruiting her name was Mary.
I forgot her surname who wasrecruiting honorary probation officers.
You know, if she hadn't put herhand upand say, look, get in touch with me.
Who knows what would have happened?
(20:51):
The senior social worker at COASIT whotook me on, you know, going through
life and engaging diverse experience.
There are always people you knowthat really prop you up and support
you, encourage you and inspire you.
(21:11):
And, and most recently, um, that personhas been Jill Morgan, who was the
CEO and multicultural arts Victoria.
When we set about, um, to developthe festival poetry and translation,
and then who invited me to experimentwith, uh, what happened at the Pier
(21:34):
and who, who continues to support andencouraged me in, in creative ways.
Nat Grant (21:47):
You've been listening to the Prima Donna podcast, Sonic
portraits of Australian artists formore information about the project
and to hear more episodes like thisone, visit prima Donna podcast.com.
This podcast was produced on thelands of the Wurundjeri people
of the Kulin nation, and I payrespects to elders past and present.
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