Exhibitor: The Refugee Art Project
Refugee Art Project was conceived amongst a collective of academics and artists united by a concern for the plight of asylum seeker and refugees who come to Australia and who are then locked up indefinitely in Australian detention centres. We conduct regular art workshops with people in the Villawood detention centre and with refugees in the community, from which we hold art exhibitions and have produced a number of zine publications.
Our organization seeks to facilitate the art and self-expression of asylum seekers and refugees, which is then presented to the Australian public through our exhibitions and publications, in order to challenge and educate the wider community. We are a grassroots initiative that harnesses the power of artistic and cultural productions in the struggle for refugee rights and social justice. From late 2010, more than 500 artworks created by Refugee Art Project participants have been exhibited to the Australian public.
Our contributors are a diverse mixture of people, including men, women and children, who come from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Syria, the Kurdish regions of the Middle East and Burma. Whilst the work showcases a diverse range of styles, mediums and approaches, our exhibitions are unified by the common themes of trauma, exile, hope, and endurance that have marked the lives of refugees. We are a not for profit organisation and one hundred percent of sales on selected artworks goes to the asylum seekers and refugees concerned. Often it is sent back to support the families that asylum seekers were forced to leave behind.
Refugee Art Project are a longstanding presence in the Sydney zine scene and will be among the many stallholders at Other Worlds this Saturday, 21 May at Marrickville Town Hall.
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