Art Sans Frontieres
SEAS Art Basement, 66 Hindley Street, Adelaide
Until April 11 (auction at 7pm, April 11)
REVIEW BY JO ELLIS
ADELAIDE — "Nations have imposed borders but art and human rights transcend them", state the organisers of Art Sans Frontieres (without borders), an art exhibition and auction for refugees' rights. The exhibition brings together more than 20 local artists, including refugees, whose work examines the themes of migration, freedom and respect for human rights.
"The idea behind the exhibition is using art to unite those in our community who disagree with government policies toward refugees", said Steven Lord, an organiser of Art Sans Frontieres. "All of the artists in this exhibition have a strong commitment to ending the policy of mandatory detention. Some of the artists featured have experienced first-hand the harsh reality of the Australian government's policies toward refugees."
The donated artworks are incredibly diverse and range from jewellery, sculpture to paintings and placards made by children.
One of the artists is Ronak Moussavi, a 25-year-old Iranian artist who produces traditional and digital art. Moussavi is an accomplished painter who also does storyboard drawings and poster design for short films. She believes that "art doesn't have boundaries. It doesn't matter what ethnic background you're from or what language you speak, people can find a common ground through art. My art is about human emotions and feelings, particularly the difficulties associated with migration and leaving everything behind to go to an unknown place."
Another artist featured in the exhibition is Dariush Rahaie, a refugee from Iran. Rahaie studied and worked as an artist before migrating to Australia. Besides being a visual artist, he also makes films. He has three glass paintings in the exhibition, including Rain of Sorrow (pictured).
Most of the artworks will be auctioned on the final night of the exhibition, with proceeds going to the Refugee Action Collective's campaigns for refugees' rights and to an emergency fund for temporary protection visa holders. Proceeds from the artworks by refugee artists will go to those individual artists.
The closing night of Art Sans Frontieres will feature music by the Zoe Barry Trio, Von Darlington and Soursob Bob. Chris Tamm will act as auctioneer.
For more information please call Steven on 0411 656 533 or email <slord@maths.adelaide.edu.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, April 9, 2003.
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