Words We Carry: Creating Art & Affirmations with Language
Creating with our words. Celebrating our connections. Carrying our language forward.
What are the words we carry with us? The words that give us strength, remind us of who we are, encourage us through the day and connect us to the people and places we hold close.
As part of NSW’s Aboriginal Languages Week 2026, and this year's theme, Living Languages, Strong Futures, we're celebrating the importance of keeping our languages alive by learning them, speaking them, sharing them and bringing them into our everyday lives.
Join us for Words We Carry, a relaxed and creative session where we'll explore affirmations in language through art. Using meaningful words and phrases, you'll have the opportunity to paint, decorate and create your own artwork or personalised keepsake to take home.
You might choose a word that makes you feel strong, a phrase that reminds you of your connections, or language that you'd love to see and use more often in your everyday life. It's a chance to get creative, explore positive affirmations and give those words a place in something uniquely yours.
But Words We Carry is about more than what we create. We carry our languages, our culture, our stories and our connections with us. The words we learn and share can strengthen our sense of identity and belonging, reminding us of who we are, where we come from and the relationships that help keep us strong.
Our languages are living languages. Every opportunity to learn a new word, speak a phrase or share language with someone else helps create space for our languages to be heard, experienced and passed on. Through creative activities like this, we can bring language beyond the page and into our homes, our everyday conversations and the things we make and share with others.
As part of Berimbah's Gayi, Muyawa, Gunganbu — Speak, Breathe, Belong Wellness Day, this session offers a gentle way to wind down, reflect and reconnect after a day of cultural learning, movement and shared experiences. It's also a lovely opportunity to join us for a creative activity if you can only attend part of the day.
There is no need to be an artist or have any previous experience. Just come along, choose some words that speak to you, and enjoy creating in a relaxed, welcoming space.
The words we carry can remind us of the connections that make us who we are. This Aboriginal Languages Week, let's celebrate our living languages, create something meaningful and carry those connections with us long after the day is done.
Everyone is welcome!