Time Out says
Explore the 2020 health crisis through the eyes (and artworks) of migrants and refugees
While basically no one has escaped experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic, just how each of us has experienced it has varied greatly. Online exhibition Heartlands explores the events of 2020 through the eyes of Australia's multicultural communities, presenting digital and photographic works from five migrant or refugee artists.
Heartlands 2020: Stories from the Inside features works from Ali Banan, Ammar Yonis, Chris Phung, Fatema Mukarram and Saidin Salkic, each of whom have captured a glimpse into their lives and experiences using an SLR camera provided at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. Through their works, audiences can explore some of the ways in which the pandemic has affected Australia's multicultural communities, such as those from Afghanistan, Iran, Bosnia, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
The exhibition is presented by AMES Australia (an organisation that helps migrants settle in Victoria), whose CEO Cath Scarth says: "With a perfect storm of the largest refugee crisis in history and the most deadly infectious pandemic in a century, the Heartlands project gives insight into how some of the communities who have found a safe haven in Australia in recent years are coping in difficult times."
"Despite the pandemic, the aim of Heartlands remains to try to transcend cultural barriers and reveal the hopes, dreams, challenges and everyday lives of people who make up our migrant and refugee communities."
Bosnian Australian writer, filmmaker, poet and artist Saidin Salkic said the pandemic has given him the opportunity to reflect on and evolve his cultural and creative identity. "It inspired me to help celebrate Australian culture, try to add to it, evolve it in my way as an artist, introduce new ideas and help further its cultural and artistic identity. It inspired me to give, care and appreciate my country."
Heartlands 2020: Stories from the Inside launches online from Thursday, September 24. All works features will be available to purchase with net proceeds going towards the artists.