Ruth Halbert
artist, weaver
Paper boat Rud.jpg

Blog: Dear Prime Minister

On July 30 2016 I started writing letters to the Prime Minister of Australia to protest against the imprisonment and torture of the asylum seekers in the offshore detention centres of Manus Island and Nauru. I started with the intention of writing a letter a day for every person in detention until they are all freed. There are more than 1800 asylum seekers in off shore detention. These are those letters and any response from Mr Turnbull.

Witness for the 623rd man on Manus Island

Dear Prime Minister,

'Witness' (detail), 2018, Ruth Halbert, Stations of the Cross. https://www.perthunitingchurch.org.au/stations/view/station-6

'Witness' (detail), 2018, Ruth Halbert, Stations of the Cross. https://www.perthunitingchurch.org.au/stations/view/station-6

This piece was stitched by a local singer-songwriter, Dawn Barrington, a few weeks before she went to Manus Island to take guitars to 2 of the refugees who had had theirs smashed when Australian and PNG officials forcibly removed the men from Lombrun RPC to Lorengau. Dawn's video of her trip to Manus, made with Tim Maisey, can be seen here.

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