For the 131st man on Manus Island
On behalf of the 131st refugee on Manus island I present a third artwork of Mr Sha Sarwari. "Asylum Seeker" is a boat made of newspaper and cardboard with the handwritten text of Mr Sarwari's own story of seeking asylum written over the news stories.
"Asylum Seeker", Sha Sarwari
“The handwritten script is a brief account of my journey to Australia – about why I took this journey, and things that happened in the detention center.
I guess you would like to know why I have overlapped the news in the papers with my own story. It is because the mainstream media does not bother to look closer into the issues and lives of refugees and asylum seekers that come to this country. This act in a way draws attention to the untold and unheard narratives of the asylum seeker.”
I support Mr Sarwari's call to draw attention to the untold and unheard narratives of the asylum seeker. The stories coming out of Manus Island and Nauru are ones of extreme cruelty and despair. Close the offshore detention centres and bring the men, women and children trapped there to Australia.