By BRIDGET COOK
A CRANBOURE refugee has been recognised for his artistic talents by being shortlisted in the Heartlands Refugee Art Prize.
Pakistani refugee Safar Ali’s artwork ‘The Persecuted People’ will be on display in an exhibition featuring all the shortlisted entries. The exhibition will travel around to three Victorian galleries over the next few months.
In his entry, Safar, 19, said his painting displayed how innocent civilians in some Middle Eastern countries were tortured, persecuted, forced to leave their homelands and killed.
“The civilians are paying a great price for the conflicts between different parties,” he said.
“In the painting there are the parents who are trying to save their children by holding their hands and leading them to a safe place. But if the child loses their parents, they will be misled by others and misused for criminal purposes.
“Parents are the defenders of their children.”
Safar was born in Afghanistan and moved around to Pakistan and Iran in his early years.
After living in Pakistan for some time, Safar’s father moved back to Afghanistan to set up properties for their family.
“We did not hear anything from him until one of our relatives came to Pakistan and said that my father was dead,” he said.
“My mother died three years after my father’s death.”
Safar was sponsored by his brother – who has lived in Australia since 2002 – and move to Australia in 2010 and now lives independently in Cranbourne.
He is currently studying his VCE at Cranbourne Secondary College and loves doing artworks in his spare time.
Now in its fourth year, the Heartlands Refugee Art Prize is presented by AMES and Multicultural Arts Victoria. It aims to showcase paintings, drawings, photography and mixed media works from talented refugee artists who have arrived in Australia since 1970.
All shortlisted entries go in the running for $20,000 worth of prizes.
This year artists have shared their interpretation of what they would like to see in the world and reflected the art prize theme ‘I wish to see…’
“I wish to see peace in the world, including in Australia,” Safar said.
“I wish to see friendship between people with no racism, no nationalism and no discrimination.
“I wish to see people saving the lives of each other and I wish to see no violence.”
Heartlands’ judge and curator Damian Smith said this year’s prize attracted 70 entries which continued to foster the vibrant, multifaceted work of artists who have settled in Australia under the Federal Government’s refugee resettlement program.
“Things common to us all, like food and music, story telling and art and the need to feel safe and secure are what binds us together as people and this is what the Heartlands Prize reveals,” he said.
“To us as its fortunate viewers, Heartlands is an opportunity to loosen old assumptions, to see beyond the cultural stereotypes and to learn more deeply about the newest members of our community.”
The exhibition will be held at fortyfivedownstairs in Flinders Lane from 18-29 June in the lead up to Refugee Week, at Walker Street Gallery in Dandenong from 4-27 July as part of the Emerge Festival, and also The Homestead at Werribee Park from 1-14 September.
