Footprints of my heart, 11-19 August 2011
Darwin Supreme Court, State Square, Northern Territory, Australia
The majestic Supreme Court foyer in Darwin is the prestigious venue for our exhibition, coinciding with the Darwin Festival and many other cultural events in Darwin’s dynamic dry season.
Refugees who have arrived by boat to our Northern shores have been residing in Darwin for some 18 months or more as their applications for protection visas are processed. For the first time in Darwin’s history many people from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Burma and Sri Lanka have been living in detention in Berrimah’s Northern Immigration Detention Centre, the Asti Hotel in the CBD and the Airport Lodge.
This exhibition aknowledges refugees in detention in our community and celebrates the art work which in so many ways reflects the images of the home they have left and the new home they have arrived at. For many refugees in detention, art is a way of expressing all the things that the outside world represents; the wonders of nature, beauty, dazzling colour and light, untampered innoncence. For others, art is used as a medium to express pain, sorrow, desperation and the overwelming melancolia of exile from one’s culture and land. Some artists have used words, others cartoons. There are professional artists as well who are well known practitioners in their country of origin who continue to make art while incarcerated.
Exhibition hours: 9am -5pm daily. Guided tour of exhibition daily at 11am.
Curator: Vikki Riley
This exhibition has been made possible with the support of the Judges at the Supreme Court, Darwin Community Arts, Staff at DIAC/NIDC and Life Without Barriers. We also acknowledge the generosity of Larrakia Nation and respect their ancestors on whose land this exhibition is being held.