Summary

Artwork entitled 'Child in Camp', created in 2015 by Melbourne-based Sri Lankan refugee, Sriharan (Sri) Ganeshan. It is part of 'Attache Case', a collective artwork co-ordinated by Peter Burke in 2015. The painting portrays a boot stamping on a baby bottle.There are also three photo portraits of Sri in the collection (MM 167275, MM 167276 and MM 167277).

Sriharan Ganeshan was a film photographer and journalist in Sri Lanka before fleeing the war. Sri arrived in Australia by boat and spent six years in detention before his release in 2015. His writing has been published in 'Overland', 'Perilmag', 'Writing Through Fences', 'Key of Sea', and 'Writing From Below'. He has produced recordings of his poetry in Tamil language which have been broadcast in France and he participated in The Whirling at the 2018 NGV Triennale, and at No Vacancy in 2019. His paintings from detention were shown at Eltham Library in 2021. Sri is working on his volume of poetry and stories entitled 'I See The Moon and The Moon Sees Me'.

Artist statement provided by Sriharan in 2021:
'This painting in the Briefcase project was done while Sri was in Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA), and shows a boot kicking a small figure that could be a baby. Sri observed and documented a lot of the cruelty of the officers and others, and was appalled at how children and babies had to live in detention in Australia.'

This collective artwork, entitled 'Attache Case' (HT56009), was created by Melbourne artist, curator and lecturer Peter Burke in 2015 as part of an international touring art installation, 'Low-Cost Diplomatic Bag', auspiced by the Spanish Embassy, and curated by Nilo Casares and ArtEx Madrid. It travelled to the Spanish Embassies in five countries, including Australia, in 2015-2016 (one venue included Immigration Museum, Melbourne). 'Attache Case' is comprised of a re-purposed doctor's medical case which opens to reveal small drawers containing 41 individuals' miniature artworks representing 21 refugees from Afghanistan, Vietnam, Poland, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt and Iraq.

The artworks inside the case are acrylic and oil paintings and collage works on canvas board and copper. Many artworks have handwritten descriptions on paper by the artists on the reverse. The collection also includes a video about the project by César Espada produced in 2015.

Physical Description

Oil on canvas board. Boot on a baby's bottle, grid behind.

Significance

'Attache Case' is a collective artwork created in 2015 in response to an invitation by artist, Peter Burke, to a number of asylum seekers and refugees in Melbourne to express their experience visually. The refugees and asylum seekers (some in detention at the time of the project) who produced the artworks came from diverse countries including Afghanistan, Vietnam, Poland, Hungary, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt and Iraq. They explore diverse themes relating to detainment, immigration, border security policies, bureaucracy, and mental health.

The artists convey thoughts and feelings about freedom, opprtunities, life in Australia, resettlement, optimism, despair, grief, hope, fear and anger and the consequences of living in limbo. These refugee and asylum seeker's voices, concerns, and personal perspectives are not often publicly expressed and more often manipulated by media and politics or silenced in their community.

This complex artwork contains a diversity of cultures, genders, experiences, artistic styles, and responses. The oil and acrylic paintings are objects rich with symbolic meaning - both as a part of a luggage item reminiscent of the migrant experience, as well as a traveller's borderless container (representing migration, diplomacy, policy and bureaucracy) of voices that speak to the issues that are at the heart of the asylum seeker situation and debate.

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