lifestyle
Home and
A
heart
Photo: Rosie Hastie
Community and connections are at the core of this Hobart social enterprise, writes Elspeth Callender.
half-moon rises over nipaluna / Hobart as I approach the giant luminescent shed. Smoke and steam from a mobile kitchen ride the cold night air. A small crowd of silhouetted figures surround firepits. I fall easily into conversation over chai and warm biscuits before we head inside. Friday Feels is one of many events held in a space created specifically to elevate wellbeing. The LongHouse stands on the homelands of the Muwinina – the original wellness practitioners of lutruwita/Tasmania. Its floor is the insulated concrete slab of a former cold store at the intersection of Davey and Evans Street at Macquarie Point. The space was designed by architectural studio Core Collective in collaboration with First Nations social enterprise Nayri Niara (NY-ree nee-AR-a) and applies sustainable
principles. Plexiglass roof and walls permit natural light. The concrete holds warmth and radiates it. There’s an edible garden courtyard. Its multipurpose shed can be packed up and re-used elsewhere. During a Connect 2 Create workshop earlier in the week, Yorta Yorta woman Ruth Langford tells me the transparency of the LongHouse represents relationships with others. “We are living in a world where there’s a desperate need for a new way of being to emerge to help heal this epidemic of loneliness and disconnection.” Nayri Niara’s founder, creative director and wellbeing team member is a songwoman and Indigenous medicines therapist whose creative practice is art installation. Ruth tends to use the word wellbeing. “How we are ‘being’? Do we feel passionate about life? Do we feel that we have a sense of purpose? And, ultimately, do we feel that we belong to ourselves and are we connected to those around us?” ract.com.au // JOURNEYS
17
