I was astounded to discover, that in 2021, seven million Australians lacked the necessary literary skills to navigate normal life. These literacy statistics are what I expected in the days when churches designed stain glass windows to visually tell stories to the illiterate. Learning to read can radically change a person’s life, filling in government forms, reading labels on containers, following a recipe, getting a drivers licence, enjoying reading a good book, getting, and maintaining a job, communicating with friends and family, reading this statement.  All leading to independence, education, and fullness of life. Dreams and hopes are realised, new possibilities arise.

This artwork, made from discarded fabric scraps from the artist’s studio, stitched together to create symbols that represent sounds and words in Pitman’s shorthand, it’s an insight for many of us, to the world of those who can’t read.

The text says – Historically, churches would have stained glass windows to visually tell stories for the illiterate. How is it that in two thousand and twenty one, seven million Australians lacked the necessary literary skills to navigate normal life?