Art is Our Voice

Overview

While it seems like we’re talking about asylum seekers all the time in Australia, we don’t actually get to hear from them directly all that much. For sure, there are organisations like RISE (which both advocates for and is made up of refugees and asylum seekers) and many harrowing media interviews. But there's a life after detention, in which a show like Art is Our Voice is still an unusual thing: bringing together the art of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia in their own artistic words. And coffees.

Where Alwy Fadhel went before him, artist Masoud Akhava Ghassabzadeh will be showing off the hidden artistic benefits of instant coffee. Given the material restrictions of a detention centre existence (i.e. no paint) coffee is often a pigment of choice both inside and, later, outside. Alongside Ghassabzadeh's caffeinated pigments, the show will also offer up the output of artists with more traditional media like painting, sculpture or photography.

Opening night is May 14 from 6-8.30pm.  The exhibition is open 10am-5pm, Monday to Friday. Image: That Old Man by Homa Nozari.