Doug PollardDiversity Matters
March 1st 2009 21:43
On my soapbox
Text of the speech I gave yesterday at the awarding of the second ChillOut Photography Prize, in association with the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, at the Novotel Forest Resort, Creswick.
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone at Ballarat International Foto Biennale for partnering with ChillOut and organising this second ChillOut Photography Competition. And an especially big thank you to the judges for all their hard work, and to everyone who entered.
Many thanks are also due to the Walsh family, owners of the Novotel Forest Resort for becoming a Major Partner of ChillOut, and for hosting two events – a performance of The Vagina Monologues, and of course this exhibition.
This marks the first time that the town of Creswick has hosted a ChillOut event – hopefully it’s the first of many.
We at ChillOut are especially keen to develop the festival, from its historic base in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, to spread the benefits to the whole of Hepburn Shire.
Right now the shire has had an especially difficult time due to the bushfires, and before I go on I would just like to pay tribute to all the firefighters and volunteers who have worked so hard, containing the fires and keeping our towns safe.
The Muskvale fire near Daylesford has been successfully managed. Last night it was removed from the CFA website and the staging area at Victoria Park was closed. Fingers crossed that we have no new outbreaks in the extreme fire weather expected Tuesday.
We at ChillOut are working hard to get the message out that the shire is safe to visit, that our visitors are the lifeblood of our local economy, and that so long as we are sure they will be safe, ChillOut will go ahead.
We understand ChillOuts role as a lynchpin of the local economy, and why it is even more important than usual this year that we have a successful festival.
ChillOut is of course, a great celebration of Diversity – the theme of this photography competition.
I love the word “diversity”. Especially the diversity of meanings people ascribe to it. Most often you hear it used to mean ‘different’. Meaning ‘different from the speaker’, that is.
How often have you heard someone say, “We’re such a diverse workplace!”
What they really mean is “A lot of the people here are not like me!”
People often speak of Diversity as if it were somehow the opposite of Normal. Whereas in fact, Diversity IS Normal.
Take a look at any uncultivated field. It contains a diversity of plants and animals. That’s normal. That’s natural.
Then take a look at a wheat field. Nothing there but wheat. That’s not normal. That’s unnatural – and it takes a lot of work to keep it that way.
It’s the same in human communities. Diversity is normal. Men. Women. Old. Young. Married. Single. Black. White. Asian, gay, straight, bisexual and transgender people. Normal people, all of us.
If we try and make different people conform to some imaginary normality, it’s a lot of hard work. And it comes with a high price tag. Sometimes a very high price.
People often ask me, why do ‘you people’ make such a fuss about telling us about your sexuality? We don’t need to know.
Well actually, you do.
All those other differences, you can see. And because you can see them, you understand that they’re all part of the spectrum of humanity.
We’re part of that spectrum too, but you can’t see us. So we have to keep reminding you we’re here. Because otherwise you’re inclined to forget.
Although not, perhaps, in Daylesford.
Especially not during ChillOut.
I said earlier that ChillOut had an important role in the local economy. But it has another, much more important role.
In large parts of rural and regional Australia, unlike Hepburn Shire, diversity is not respected. In particular, same-sex attracted people are still invisible, still left out.
I also said earlier that falling to embrace diversity exacts a high price.
All too often that price is paid by kids growing up gay or lesbian. Or, still, in far too many cases, failing to grow up, because they take their own lives.
Because in their communities, diversity is not understood, not accepted, not respected.
So yes, ChillOut is important to the local economy, but it is far more important as a source of positive role models, as a demonstration of the acceptance of diversity, and as an example of hope to the next generation.
Which is why diversity is, as we see in these photographs, such a powerful and inspiring concept. Thanks to all the photographers who have presented us with the rich diversity of images we see here today.
I look forward, fingers crossed, to seeing you all at a great ChillOut weekend.
Thank you.
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