Modernians, 90 years apart, connected through a national intergenerational arts initiative

Benedict Widjaja in Year 12 was selected to participate in Western Australia’s rendition of the Centenarian Portrait Project by Teenagers, an intergenerational arts initiative by embraced.com.au which saw teenage artists creating portraits of Western Australia’s centenarians, culminating in a state exhibition held at Wilkinson Gallery, Claremont Showgrounds, in December 2022.

Benedict was paired with Modernian Gordon Ewers, who attended the school from 1929-1933, graduating 90 years ago. At 107-years-old, he is the oldest man in Western Australia, and third oldest man in Australia.

As part of the project, spanning over a few months, Benedict made visits to Gordon at his home in Brightwater Madeley, as well as Joondalup hospital when he was in rehabilitation.

“Getting to know each other was easy, due to our shared Modernian identity, and many other shared interests such as, music, literature, travel and Christianity,” Benedict said.

Upon their first meeting, they were already making music together, with Benedict on the piano, and Gordon with his voice!

After the first few meetings, and a few practice sketches, Benedict got to work on his portrait, utilising the skills and techniques he had learnt as a Year 11 ATAR Visual Arts student.

In his artist statement, Benedict said: “I, and many others, find Gordon to be so special, as he never fails to make whoever he meets smile, whether that be me, the cameraman, or the nurses at the hospital he briefly stayed at.”

“You can never make me look pretty, but you can make me look happy”, is what Gordon jokingly told Benedict.

Those are the words that stayed in his mind as Benedict created the portrait, depicting Gordon’s big and warm smile, with some of Gordon’s poetry adorned in hand-lettering in the background.