Perth Voice Interactive

SOME call her the Queen of Fremantle, and it’s an apt name given Rosslyn de Souza was crowned Community Citizen of the Year last week for her long-standing contribution to Fremantle’s arts and culture scene.

A 30-year resident and art curator, Ms de Souza was the driving force behind the Outside the Box Gallery in Woodsons Arcade, which platforms young artists from schools around Fremantle alongside disability arts group DADAA. 

Ms de Souza also managed ArtWalk Freo, the biannual opening of Fremantle artists’ homes and studios for the public to access their work, ideas, and creativity. 

It’s all part of Ms de Souza’s effort to make her hometown better, more beautiful, and therefore more welcoming to both its residents and the people who drift in and out of the port city. 

Effort

“I have always felt that in order to live in a town, you have to make an effort, you can’t just sit back and let the bureaucratic system do it for you,” Ms de Souza said. 

“I also believe in the empowerment of making beauty, especially when there is so much sadness in the world.”

Living by the old Irish adage that “slow water weareth the stone”, Ms de Souza can often be seen with a bucket and sponge outside her beloved Street Gallery shopfronts, scrubbing graffiti, painting, and making sure the glass is gleaming for patrons to peer through. 

It’s this passion for accessible beauty that inspired Ms de Souza to reinvigorate Woodsons Arcade with the Outside the Box Gallery, which she describes as a “project of the heart” where so many of Fremantle’s youth are able to showcase their art in an otherwise underutilised space. 

“We did an incredible makeover on a very small budget, because everybody came together and it was a community effort, and no money was changed,” she said. 

“It was a project of the heart, and what I like about it is that it’s brought together DADAA, the Studio School next door, so those students will take over from me as a succession plan.”

At the award ceremony last week, Uncle Gerard Shaw delivered a “wonderful” Welcome to Country which addressed the meaning of life, which struck a chord within Ms de Souza. 

“The meaning of life is to find your gift… the purpose of life is to give it away,” Mr Shaw said.

“I’m putting it in my own words, but the message was that it’s up to the individual to recognise their own gift, to explore it, burnish it, use it, share it, and give it away,” Ms de Souza said.

“Everybody has something that they can do so easily, and so often they disregard it… If I have a gift, it’s organisational, and I have a gift of connecting people.

“If I can introduce people for no ulterior motive other than to synergise, I can get something else, and that really resonated with me.”

Ms de Souza has decided she will be wearing her medal around town to acknowledge the “unsung heroes” around Fremantle who work tirelessly to transform it and to make it more beautiful, so its residents can love and appreciate their home. 

It’s people like these who make Fremantle so special, according to Ms de Souza, who says she is “so hopeful” for its future. 

“There’s a village within our city, and it brings together like minded people – not everyone is like minded, but a cross section of people are very tolerant, and very generous,” Ms de Souza said. 

“You can pick up on it, not just because we know each other, but it’s a soul thing…there’s a feeling of care for the environment, a feeling for each other, and if there’s some problem, they all band together and support each other. 

“Other places are perhaps monoculture, but this isn’t.”

Ms de Souza, who is a “firm believer in community and its empowerment”, says she was “so touched” to be nominated for the award and had not expected to win. 

“There was a lovely buzz of anticipation at the ceremony…when I heard all of the other nominees, I was thinking well gosh, I’m in great company here, and I was really proud,” she said. 

“When the mayor started to read our all of the things that the winner has done, I was so thrilled, because I thought, wow, that’s what I’ve been doing. 

“It was really super.” 

More information about the Community Citizen of the Year award, including Senior Citizen of the Year Robert Chapman and Young Citizen of the Rosie Chute, is available on the City of Fremantle’s news and media page.

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER