Summary

Digital colour photograph of Melbourne-based Iranian refugee, Maryam Saparisi taken by Maryam in Melbourne in 2020. Maryam is part of a collective artwork 'Attache Case' co-ordinated by Peter Burke in 2015. She created four artworks in this collection: 'Untitled (Dove)' (HT 56009.17), 'Untitled (Fire)' (HT 56009.18), 'Untitled (Teardrop)' (HT HT 56009.19), and 'Untitled (Mermaid)' (HT HT 56009.20).

Artist statement provided by Maryam in 2021: 'My name is Maryam and I am from Iran. I came to Australia eight years ago. I love everything about art and l love creating art by hand. I love the act of creating, from anything. In Iran I studied interior design and I liked painting. I have participated in several exhibitions with the Melbourne Artists for Asylum Seekers - they encourage me to paint and draw. Now I am trying to get better at my painting. I also love having plenty of good friends, thank God. I wish to be a successful person in this new world of mine.'

The 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 paintings representing 21 refugees from Afghanistan, Vietnam, Poland, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt and Iraq.

Description of Content

Half portrait image of woman wearing a white tee-shirt and silver leaf necklace with brown hair blown across her face.

Physical Description

Digital-born photograph supplied in digital form by the donor.

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, 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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