Summary

Digital colour photograph of Melbourne-based Polish refugee, Dagmara Gieysztor, taken by Dagmara in Melbourne in 2021. Dagmara is part of a collective artwork 'Attache Case' co-ordinated by Peter Burke in 2015. Dagmara created two artworks in this collection: 'How? Not Why? P1' (HT56009.11) and 'How? Not Why? P2' (HT56009.12).

Artist statement provided by Dagmara in 2021: 'Dagmara Gieysztor has been a multidisciplinary artist for 25 years which led her to becoming a visual dramaturg, practising in theatre and contemporary dance in Australia and internationally. She runs an artist residency in her hometown of Lodz, Poland. She is lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) in various subjects and is starting a mentorship program for artists of diverse backgrounds.

'Artwork 1: Title: How? Not Why? P1
People always ask how you got to Australia, instead of why did you have to leave your country. As if one mode of transport outweighed the other. The current prime minister* came by boat (£10 Pom) yet has tried to stop all boats. (*Tony Abbott, Prime Minister from 2013-15)'

'Artwork 2: Title: How? Not Why? P2
And so I ask everyone the same question, how did your family get to Australia?'

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 with hair in front of 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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