The 2022 AVID Australia Student Showcase at Summer Institute features students sharing their celebration stories.
The variety and quality of student submissions are testament to the inspiring work and dedication of all staff within AVID schools and clearly celebrate students, learning, teachers, school communities and the AVID community.
The submissions are joyous, and heartfelt, and reflect the students’ application, individual determination and creativity.
© 2023 AVID Australia.
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11:50PM. Due 11:59PM. The time is ticking. Your heart begins to race. The voices. They grow louder. They flood your mind with doubt. With anxiety. With stress. It’s heavy, but you can’t seem to escape it because you are trapped here. As your breath shortens, you submit the final task. Sigh.
This is the reality for adolescents today, except this wasn’t on one occasion. This is a daily occurrence for numerous students suffering at the hands of the Australian ATAR schooling system. This toxic cycle repeats and is the reason too many Australian students suffer from mental health issues. In contemporary society, the unachievable standards to exceed, unrealistic expectations, and unbearable amounts of work cause teenagers to agonise in silence.
As a senior student, my final year of high school has been filled with many highs, where I learnt new techniques that aided my way into a path of success. However, to get to this position it required catering towards my mental health and comfort within myself, which I thought wasn’t needed to learn. It was a prolonged time of teaching myself how to cope with the high standards I hold, agonizing emotions, and keeping up with the expectations of those around me. Despite my deep appreciation for learning and new knowledge, sometimes it can be difficult to even pick up the pen, sit and concentrate during class time, or explain my intentions in an analytical English essay when I can’t even explain what’s going on inside my head. This is when I discovered my passion for developing artworks, specifically installations that express and address significant topics to me and those alike me.
My installation ‘Alice in Misery’ carries a personal and contemporary context, inspired by my experience with anxiety, overload of schoolwork, and ignorance that adults carry surrounding students in distress. The prime feature of my work is the oversized children’s book that stands at the front of the installation to convey the façade I portray in real life to distract those from the chaos within. The enlarged book which was developed by specialised printing machines helped produce this project on such a large scale. This was done deliberately to make the audience feel miniscule, insignificant, and overwhelmed when confronting the work. My installation features three walls, all acting as screens for my digital aspect that plays on a loop. The walls which trap the viewer in a box symbolises the inside of my mind. These videos display the perspective from an overwhelmed student in distress struggling to deal with the weight of school exams, assessments, and homework. I intentionally used repetition within the video through the pages of my school notes and assignments that gradually build to cover the entire screen. This represents the excessive amount of schoolwork forced upon students today. Throughout the video, note taking is written on the stacks of pages that spell out ‘remember for exam’, ‘complete homework’ and ‘study’ to reinforce the mindset of an academic overachiever. Also included are negative self-talk statements that violently fill the screen with ‘failure’, ‘this is not enough’ and ‘give up’ which have been applied as a result from personal experiences, giving audiences a glimpse into the mentality of an overwhelmed student. A significant part of this artwork is sound, which is further emphasised playing from headphones that is given to viewers upon entering the installation to immerse themselves into my shoes. Various noises are combined to develop that overwhelming sensation. It plays a ticking clock to symbolise the pressure of time, a heartbeat having a panic attack, hyperventilating, and voiceovers from myself. Moreover, before receiving the headphones to enter the installation, background music of ambient nature sounds with birds and wind blowing plays to create a calming atmosphere before entering the chaos. This also signifies the façade that I present externally to hide the internal mess, which is exemplified through the artworks vast contrast in sounds. In doing so, this generates an emotional response from the audience.
In conclusion, my artwork ‘Alice in misery’ isn’t a piece to meant to feel sympathy for but rather one to celebrate and embrace. Where learning doesn’t need to be difficult, scary, or stressful, and I learnt that through finding piece in who I am, my abilities, and my achievements. This installation is a symbol of my growth which I can now celebrate. School is hard, learning is concepts is challenging however, I am wiser in understanding that mental health isn’t an option but a priority. One’s mental wellbeing is more significant than that upcoming exam, studying until 4 in the morning, or pushing yourself to burn out. Now, I look back at all the faults in my learning journey and appreciate that without them, I wouldn’t be the strong-minded student I am today.
