Events

Launching Refugee Week 2008>>

Made in Australia
An Exhibition about Power Complacency and Consequence
by renowned photographer Viv Mehes.

Launch: June 16 at 6.15pm.
Dates: 16 - 11 July, 2008
The Foyer, 1 Spring St, Melbourne

The launch will include storytelling by Arnold Zable who has contributed a compelling essay for the catalogue.
Music by Mesopotamia.

About the exhibition>>
Created over 2 years, this close collaboration with Asylum Seekers from Sri Lanka, Burma, Lebanon, Cyprus, Fiji and Ghana, gently draws on their inner resilience creating a powerful and intimate narrative. A Series of silent commuters towers over the narratives, whilst set apart is a disquieting Installation of portraits printed onto delicate, swaying fabric hung from the iconic Hill's Hoist; at first intriguing and familiar, it carries a bitter sting to offer a powerful statement about human rights in Australia over the last decade.


For Viv Mehes, Made in Australia comes hot on the heels of her multi-award winning exhibition Shadowland, a powerful exhibition also about refugees. Following a 2-year Victorian Regional Gallery Shadowland was placed on the Amnesty International website on World Refugee Day, 2007.



Viv Mehes' work is represented in most Australian public galleries, and in private and corporate collections.


In late 2005, Anial, an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, implored Viv to create another exhibition like Shadowland, 'Please show Australian people how Bridging Visa E is affecting our lives'.

For interviews with Viv Mehes or asylum seekers contact Viv on 0408 035 258 or email.


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Produced in partnership with Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project

Made in Australia is proud to be part of Multicultural Arts Victoria's Emerge Festival 2008

Funded by: Perpetual, City of Melbourne and Victorian Multicultural Commission