ME, THE ROAD AND IT
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To September 1
Wollongong City Gallery
With his art installation The Boat, Vietnamese-Australian artist Dacchi Dang has created a life-sized model of the 15-metre fishing vessel on which he travelled to this country in 1984.
The work is part of Me, The Road and I and brings alive the experiences of many asylum seekers on their journey to Australia, says exhibition curator Virginia Settre.
"To actually be in that space and see the size of it makes the whole concept very real - it is a very moving piece," she says.
"It's covered in a blue fabric and, for a 15-metre boat, sits very silently in the gallery. It's almost like a ghost ship. It has this gorgeous presence and is a bit haunting.
"When you go inside - you can actually walk inside it - and you realise how small it is, you think, 'Wow, they had 139 people on it'.
"Even when there's a couple of other people inside it already feels crowded. You ... begin to realise just how treacherous the journey was - and is. It's really frightening and it begins to bring that home."
Me, The Road and I explores the experiences of refugees - both their journey to Australia and their lives after they arrive here.
It includes works by 10 contemporary artists, three of whom were refugees themselves: Dang; Lava Jafari, from an Iranian Baha'i background; and Ghasan Saaid, from Sudan.
In creating works for the exhibition, the artists met members of Illawarra refugee communities and listened to their stories.
"I went to the artists with a concept in mind," says Settre.
"I set up meetings ranging from informal lunches to workshops where the artists were engaging with refugee people directly.
"Some [of their stories] are very harrowing and some are very enlightening. The artists then took that information and created artworks from it."
The resulting works not only address the experiences of refugees on their journey to Australia, but also their experiences in Australia.
"There is a preconception that they arrive here and that's it, that is the happy ending," Settre says.
"In reality, arriving here is just the beginning of another chapter in the whole journey. It's a massive culture shock for them and a difficult process to go through.
"I'm trying to say, 'Look, it's not a happy ending arriving in Australia, it is actually really difficult and these people have a lot of hurdles to jump, and these are some of the hurdles we would like to show you'.
"We're trying to put a real face on the people we are talking about. We're trying to say, 'These are our local people, these are local stories. It's not just about what you read in the paper or see on the TV'."
Four of the artists from Me, The Road and I - Dacchi Dang, Lava Jafari, Jasmin Carter and Anita Larkin - will be talking at the Gallery on Saturday, from 12.30 to 1.30pm. For details on this and other associated events go to www.wollongongcitygallery.com