Wisdom

The Wisdom project is a wonderful collection of media clips, portraits, and writings from a selection of current influential notorieties, directed by Andrew Zuckerman, and assisted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"Inspired by the idea that one of the greatest gifts one generation can pass to another is the wisdom it has gained from experience, the Wisdom project, produced with cooperation from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, seeks to create a record of a multicultural group of people who have all made their mark on the world"

In an attempt to create a more profound, honest, and truly revealing portrait of these luminaries, the project encompasses their voices, their physical presence, and the written word" (from the Wisdom website)

The project included an exhibition (October-November 2008) at the NSW State Library (Sydney) of selected photographic portraits (included in the book), media clips, and a selection of mounted written quotes from the project participants. I was fortunate to be visiting the library on the final day of the exhibition and thankfully had the opportunity to see it.

What I loved was the inclusion of a blog (published on the NSW State Library website at the time) that gave the opportunity for anyone visiting the exhibition to be able to submit their own 'words of wisdom'. This was constructed by offering a competition (ie. reward) to anyone who entered, with a 'blog station' provided in the exhibition space where entries could be made.

Seeing this as an opportunity to collect and record the wisdom of 'ordinary folk' I raced home and saved the entries of this blog with the urgency of recording something that isn't always as readily available, and also with the knowledge that the full scope of entries would be included on the blog page since it was the final day of competition.

The entries are still published through an archived 2008 overview of State Library exhibitions here (at the time of writing this blogpost): and I have also kept a copy within the Spirited Earthling blogspace here....