Ten Days on the Island

Welcome Festival 2021 Tasmanian Gothic has its place, but Ten Days on the Island is Tasmanian Romantic. Our cover image by photographer Jess Bonde was inspired by The Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog, a self-portrait painted about 200 years ago by Caspar David Friedrich – the artist silhouetted against a vast landscape contemplating the wild and sublime in nature. It is our homage to the Romantic movement in the mid-19th Century, when art, music, philosophy and poetry evoked the experience of intense emotion. The feelings of awe and wonder inspired by the immense, ancient landscapes of lutruwita/Tasmania are emotions we all share. lutruwita/Tasmania is sometimes called the ‘heart-shaped island’. The idea of our island state in the shape of a heart, symbolising resilience, connectedness and empathy, has been a powerful metaphor guiding the development of this Festival. For our artists and communities the pandemic was a defining experience. Those months took us all to a darker place, but they also stimulated a surge in creative activity born of deep reflection and made us hungrier for human connection. Creating the 2021 edition of Ten Days on the Island has been a festival-making journey unlike any other, but the fact that this has not been the easiest time to organise a festival makes it all the more vital that we have! As concepts of ‘local’ and ‘global’ flow into each other through the digital experience, we are proud to present a 2021 Festival that celebrates the brilliance, innovation and ingenuity of lutruwita/Tasmania’s global local artists. This special 20th anniversary Festival is one for the Tasmanian Romantic. Throw yourself into these extraordinary landscapes and let your emotions run wild! Lindy Hume Artistic Director Ten Days on the Island