Stephen Copland
On the 27th August 2023 at 11 am in the village of Conzano, province of Alessandria, Italy
Australian visual artists Stephen Copland and Meredith Brice completed a dream that become a reality as the Migration as Art Museum was opened in the “Land of the Australians”.
Why Conzano, Italy? Emanuele Demaria Mayor of Conzano welcomed the Museum project for the town situated on the Montferrat hills famous for having been declared in 1992 as the symbol of the massive emigration of the people to northern Queensland to work as sugar cane cutters during the 1890-1935 period. The ancient town square, named Piazza d'Armi (Weapons Square) was renamed Piazza Australia when the twinning connection between Conzano and Ingham was established. The 25th Governor General of Australia Dame Quentin Bryce AD, CVO officiated at the twinning ceremony. The sculpture of a kangaroo depicted on the arcade of the square by the late great Italian artist Ezio Gribaudo draws attention to this connection.
After purchasing the 1750 building to house the museum project in 2021 the artists have determinedly pursued our ambitions. Despite world events from the pandemic, Brexit and the tyranny of distance we have sought to respect the history of the building renovating in 2023 to create the Museum with an inaugural opening and in 2024 completing the Dame Quentin Bryce studio residency program that began n August 2024. The Casa Museo aims to create cultural connections and experiences of local and international collaborations that can build partnerships across the arts and sciences; literature, geography, ethnography, social sciences and anthropology and all areas that reimagine and contribute to perspectives focussed on humane society. The artist’s maintain that the purpose of the Museum is to promote cultural diversity and integration as a hybrid art facility experienced as part contemporary art, part community art, part social history, part heritage and part migration history.