'Blooming Now' banner installed on Brunswick campus

Hundreds of staff and students have contributed to a large-scale art project symbolising respect for women at RMIT.

Blooming Now is a community art project lead by artist and RMIT alumni Jo Mott. The artwork - comprised of hundreds of colourful hands - symbolises respect for women, female identifying and non-binary people across all RMIT campuses.

Together with staff and students, Jo created the mural using over 800 paper hands over three months. The banner was first installed above the RUSU office on the RMIT City campus and has recently been moved to the Brunswick campus where is it proudly displayed in Building 514.

“I hope that the people that participated in the project walk past and feel a sense of belonging and a sense of connection to the project about respecting women,” said Jo.

When they see the figure of the woman after making their hand drawings together, with almost a thousand hands on the wall forming this really strong empowered image of a woman, [I hope] they'll feel proud.

Photograph showing large colourful banner hanging from ceiling in Brusnwick campus

The Blooming Now banner on display at the RMIT Brunswick campus. Image courtesy Ashish Narwade.

President of the 2019 RUSU club, Ella Gvildys, said the inspiration of the Blooming Now project is to acknowledge and promote a culture of respect on campus.

“The creative stories that we've heard throughout the project has been heart-warming," she said.

"It's dissolved those lines where it's not a ‘you’ thing and it's not a ‘me’ thing, it's an ‘us’ thing. And that's been an important beating heart of the project.”

After creating the Blooming Now banner out of hundreds of paper hands, there was a number still left over. To coincide with the artwork moving to the Brunswick campus, artist Jo is creating a smaller work with the extra hands that were collected in 2019. This new artwork will then be installed at the City campus later in the year, demonstrating the connection between RMIT’s Brunswick and City campuses.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

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'Blooming Now' banner installed on Brunswick campus