LOSS

ARTISTS: DAMON AMB, MIRIAM CABELLO, BLAK DOUGLAS, JAGATH DHEERASEKARA AND LINDA SOK

WWW.CASULAPOWERHOUSE.COM

24 APRIL – 18 JULY 2021 MORNING MELODIES & CLASSIC FILMS

1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

1 Powerhouse Rd, Introduction 1 ustralia is a country where This booklet features an essay by Casula NSW 2170 a large percentage of the each of the artists and is an important (enter via Shepherd St, Damon AMB: Cryptic Whispers 2 population have moved here companion to the exhibition. The artists Liverpool) A from other parts of the world. In the comment, from their own experiences, Miriam Cabello: The Final Embrace 5 Tel 02 8711 7123 Liverpool Council area 41% of people on difficult topics including war, reception@ Blak Douglas: Intergenerational Fauna 9 stated on the 2016 Census that they torture, destruction and the stolen casulapowerhouse.com were born overseas. generations, offering personal insights Jagath Dheerasekara: 12 into reconnecting with culture, home, casulapowerhouse.com The Wall That Travels Within Me LOSS is an exhibition exploring the family, and friends. The exhibition is impact of leaving a homeland, by those Linda Sok: Questions for My Sister, 16 led by the artist’s voice in framing their My Mother, My Grandmother who intimately know what that feels artworks, and this booklet allows the like. It features a range of artworks Public Programs 20 artists to communicate their works in by artists with strong connections to the way they wish; some essays discuss Acknowledgements 21 Western Sydney, including Damon AMB, the specific histories and events which Miriam Cabello, Blak Douglas, Jagath © Copyright authors, artists, inform their experiences, while others contributors, and Casula Dheerasekara and Linda Sok. Each offer more poetic and conversational Powerhouse Arts Centre. of these artists explore the reasons, No material, whether written Content Warning: reflections on their feelings. or photographic can be The content of this booklet features artists narrating impacts and losses of leaving their reproduced without the their own stories of loss of homeland and forced homelands, and the intergenerational It is important that artists are provided permission of the artists, migration. If you are experiencing emotional distress authors and Casula Powerhoue impacts. Some of the artists use the support and freedom to tell stories help is available. Please contact Lifeline. Arts Centre. Opinions expressed their art to directly communicate in the ways they believe their stories in the publication are those of Lifeline provides confidential crisis support that is the authors and not necessarily accessible 24 hours a day. We encourage any person in the difficult political histories which need to be told, and to be in control those of Casula Powerhouse Australia who is contemplating suicide, experiencing have informed their loss, while others of their telling. We hope the exhibition Arts Centre. emotional distress, or caring for someone in crisis to make works capturing the feelings and this collection of essays help Published by Casula call or text Lifeline. Powerhouse Arts Centre, Regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity, sexual and emotions of loss. While each have audiences appreciate each of the April 2021 orientation, or religion, trained crisis supporters are unique approaches to communicating artworks from a unique angle, and to ready to listen, support, and help you work through what’s on your mind. 13 11 14 this theme, it is making art that see the political moments from a more provides a language for expressing the personal perspective. complicated social-political issues and events which continue to shape their – Jenny Cheeseman & Luke Létourneau lives. We would like to acknowledge the Cabrogal Clan of the Darug Nation who are the traditional custodians of the land that now resides within Liverpool City Council’s boundaries. We acknowledge that this land was also accessed by peoples of the Dhurawal and Darug Nations. Cover image: Jagath Dheerasekara, ‘Bungarusa panthera: a hybrid’ 2021. Video Still. Courtesy the artist

2 1 how the subjects were abandoned to totalitarian Islamic Republic regime, the darkness. which has forced a large number CRYPTIC WHISPERS As I pass by things in the middle of of artists to flee their homeland. It DAMON AMB dark night – creatures, elements, or is dangerous to speak your mind, (b. 1979. , ) different things - I see myself, I see especially as an Iranian artist. However, moments of my life after I left my through metaphor, artists express home country. For me, photography feelings and issues without articulating is the most powerful form of them directly. In more contemporary I am inspired by the powerful words of suffering in the form of human right art. Photography transforms the art and literature, this trend remains . ‘I wish’ is used a lot violations and restrictions, I spent momentary lapse of being into eternal strong as political and social pressures in his poetry and so many poets have months being processed in Australia’s memories. continue to permeate all institutions of used it in different ways. I wish there immigration detention facilities. I was culture. , Ahmad Shamlou, I see myself in the way the cow is was justice in the world. held in two detention centres before I Forough Farrokhzad, Akhavan Saales looking, lost in the dark, unidentified in was released and granted a protection are some of our contemporary poets limbo. I see myself in the unidentified visa. I was released with a bridging and authors who have used metaphor I wish, I wish, I wish there was cloth wrapped in a strange, human visa, then after 5 years I got my in their works. Because metaphor has justice in the world. shape; am I dead there or did they protection visa in 2018 which I’m still long been present in our art, Iranian chop and leave me? I see myself in a When things pass by and pass by on. After my release from detention my audiences are accustomed to looking basement at the National Art School and pass by family sent me my camera. for deeper meaning and interpreting that brings me back to the basements and I’m getting older and older and Walking and photographing Sydney imagery. I take the photos that I do used by the current regime, ones that older during the night became a regular because I am always looking for I’ve been assaulted in and so many past time for me. This evolved into the deeper meaning in the scenes and without being seen by the people others have been tortured to death. Night Series, which is featured in this images that I experience. and the world I am hidden in these different shapes exhibition. The Night Series started and I’m getting rusted and rusted of essence and form. I am looking at Feelings are often unfolding in my as my coping mechanism to express and rusted myself. images, and whether the image is my art through photography. I feel straight-forward or abstract it is a – by Damon AMB, Metaphor is very important in my compelled to capture these images direct reflection of my memory or inspired by Ahmad Shamlou art, and is important throughout the because they evoke traces of hidden experiences. ‘The Butterfly Effect,’ in history my country’s art. It is abundant dangers, phobias, taboos, traumas and particular, represents a transformative desolation. in the works of famous Persian authors Each of the photograph in LOSS moment in my life when something and poets of the Middles Ages such embodies feelings associated with My subjects, captured spontaneously seemingly random set off a chain as , , , fleeing my homeland of Iran in 2013 as they emerge from the darkness, reaction that changed my destiny. I , , Attar, Nezāmi, and becoming an asylum seeker in are starkly illuminated by the flash of was in the second detention centre in and many others. Over the centuries, Australia. I was born in 1979, during the the camera or coloured a blood red. Western Australia at the ex-Air Force Iranian artists have experienced Iranian Revolution, and I was raised Subjects that seem harmless, ordinary base called Curtin. It was a terrible suffocating political pressures under during the eight-year war period. or simple become uncertain, ominous time there for me. I became very punitive laws. This trend has continued Having lived in Iran where the political and complex. I hope they provoke vulnerable and I got a very terrible since the 1979 formation of the situation has given birth to much thought and lead audiences to wonder lung infection. I received no medical 2 3 CRYPTIC WHISPERS

assistance. It just got worse and worse installation for LOSS, for the first two THE FINAL EMBRACE and worse. On top of that there was a weeks of the exhibition I will also be MIRIAM CABELLO fire reduction hazard burn in the bush living on-site at Casula Powerhouse (b. Santiago, Chile 1966) there and the smoke increased my and writing my stories directly on the suffering. I was dying in a way. I was North East wall, in the white space really dying. There was a girl working between my photographs. These The loss of family, extended family and Ironically the photo was taken in in the kitchen and she had a beautiful words, written in Farsi in a semi- friends, is the ultimate melancholy of September 1969. Fours year later, on butterfly tattoo on her neck. She could cryptic way, will be spontaneous forced migration. that fateful month of September 11, sense I was not well, physically or and in response to conversations 1973, the Chilean Military violently mentally. She told me: and feelings I experience during this ‘The Final Embrace’ is a recently completed drawing of my cousins and overthrew the democratically elected ‘Damon, this shall pass and things will time and as I consider themes of myself translated from a photo taken government of Salvador Allende. get better for you.’ loss. The calligraphy performance is visually cryptic in the way that Persian in Buzeta, Chile. I was just about to My politically charged artworks Only her words changed things turn three when this photo was taken foreground the often overlooked first alphabet would be foreign and rather for me. It gave me a very powerful with my cousins’ ages one to four. September 11. The U.S backed military exotic to anyone of non-Persian feeling; it was like a strong will to live Our parents captured a moment in coup d’état brought General Augusto background. To the native Persian, the and achieve my destiny. Her words time when we all played together in Pinochet to power and heralded an message might still remain cryptic as embodied the philosophy of being the garden of our home, a time that ominous chapter in my home country’s it contains poetic euphemism. For me powerful and sustaining your own perhaps they somehow knew would history. as the artist, the calligraphy will be an being. All these things will pass. These never be repeated and lost forever. enigma by the end of its writing as it In 1971, my parents fled the impending things will make me even stronger. The photo is blurry, and rightly so as takes full form as an abstract painting. doom of Chile’s internationally-backed And things did get better. Her words it symbolises how our memories fade dictatorship. This series presented as set me on a path that led to me being with the passing of years, how we part of LOSS is inspired by my family’s here now. Strangers faintly recall the times we laughed and rich history, political passions, and played as children. personal experience. My photographs are a form of self- No common ties I found out when I arrived in Sydney portraiture, even though my face rarely Simply shared kinship in humanity Pinochet and his supporters at the age of four the meaning of appears in them. The photos depict a consistently referred to the events loneliness. I lost my best friend, my person who has experienced deep loss, of September 11 not as a coup d’état cousin Chanito. The friendships, physical abuse, fear and sadness – but but as “a war.” Santiago certainly companionships and bonds that also – I hope they depict a person who looked like a war zone: tanks fired as begin in childhood did not evolve into has experienced incredible moments they rolled down the boulevards, and adulthood for my cousins and me. of transformation, strength and government buildings were under air developed a beautiful sense that all Once we landed in Sydney, these assault by fighter jets. But there was connections of love would never be felt something strange about this war. things will pass and all challenges in again. Surrogates were framed, and we It had only one side. From the start, life will make us all even stronger. willingly called strangers Auntie, Uncle. Pinochet had complete control of the The photographs are only part of my 4 5 THE FINAL EMBRACE

army, navy, marines and police.1 plunder their wealth and exploit and of November, two months after the the harder I found it to paint my “Tanks of Terror” and “City in Curfew” remove resources with U.S mining Chilean Military Coup. I was so proud of Uncle’s essence through his eyes. As I are two paintings that respond to giants. him, a young man in uniform. His photo contemplated the face’s development, Santiago’s physical and psychological Pinochet was determined to break his was lovingly displayed by my bedside. his eyes reflected a coldness, not the impact. While the paintings depict people’s habit of taking to the streets. I was not aware of the daily news loving warmth I saw as a child. I felt I scenes in 1973, inspiration came to The tiniest gatherings were dispersed highlighting the bloody overthrow that lost my Uncle during this process, the me in 1990. In 1990 I travelled through with water cannons, Pinochet’s bombed the City Palace and that he young man that sent me the photo was Santiago with my brother and cousin favourite crowd-control weapon. The was one of those soldiers that marched to become a man I didn’t recognise. I Eduardo, our nominated tour guide – junta had hundreds of them, small into the City. This photo is recreated in found it difficult as a young woman to suddenly, people started screaming enough to drive onto sidewalks and the painting ‘Mi Tío, My Uncle.’ console the conflicting emotions. While and running frantically. What I saw douse cliques of school­children He was stationed at the Tacna painting subsequent layers, I couldn’t made me freeze; it seemed like forever handing out leaflets; even funeral Regiment, located twelve blocks from bring warmth and colour to his face, as the tanks were encroaching up the processions, when the mourning got the Palacio de La Moneda, which leaving a ghost-like effect manifesting plaza towards us, the ground under too rowdy, were brutally repressed. received the detainees from La Moneda the loss of his soul. The painting will my feet starting to shake. I witnessed Nicknamed guanacos, after a llama and many other places. remain unresolved, unfinished, as is my relationship with my Tio Silvano. the loss of a city, the loss of the streets known for its habit of spitting, the Immediately after the 11th of that once belonged to the people—the ubiquitous cannons cleared away September events, the armed forces My first visit to Chile was after almost loss of walking freely in Santiago. people as if they were human garbage, did not have enough sites adequately 20 years of absence; I returned to The paintings evince meticulous leaving the streets glistening, clean and set up to serve as detention centres. Santiago with my mother and brother. research. Street signs, logos and empty. Hence during the first few hours, they Endeavouring to fill a void of twenty colours. Red for the blood that My family were divided by my home used transitory places like the Ministry years felt like re-reading One Hundred floods the streets to this day; copper country’s conflict, and this is a story of Defence, the Military Academy, and Years of Solitude by García Márquez, for plundering resources; blues for shared by many. Mine is of two the Tacna Regiment base. widely regarded as one of the century’s melancholy - the privatisation of water brothers. My father and my Uncle greatest writers. The pillar of the That base served as a prison for all the collective Latin American story. (poor neighbourhoods were without both were conscripted by the army. My troops of the investigative police in La water, and preventable diseases ran father, in 1962, during a time of peace, Moneda when army troops entered on While travelling on an old rackety rampant). Signs allude to corporate took advantage of studying at the the 11th of September and President rusted bus from my childhood home interests, media censorship, oppression Military Academy, an opportunity he Allende’s security guard, who was held to the city centre, La Moneda, I and diaspora. Thousands of Chilean was denied when forced out of school in the stables there. Later they were witnessed the impoverished ghettos, civilians were murdered, tens of at the age of 12 to work under a trade taken out to be executed and buried, malnourished children in torn clothes, thousands were imprisoned, tortured apprenticeship. presumably in Peldehue (land that filling dirty buckets with water that and “disappeared”. My Uncle served in the military, leading belonged to the Tacna Regiment).2 slowly dripped from a tap in the muddy Binding the series with golden streets up to the coup in 1973. Unwittingly he soil. In the Plazas, beggars lined the The more I researched and read streets blinded with missing limbs. and buildings represents the tanks’ dedicated a photo postcard to me for about the military’s atrocities and purpose of subduing the people to my seventh birthday, which is the 3rd Were these tortured bodies that I saw, terror against the civilian population, the hidden history of torture in public

1 The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein, Pg. 75. 2 Source: Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation 6 7 THE FINAL EMBRACE INTERGENERATIONAL display - I wondered. No one spoke of million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. FAUNA their experiences while I was present. My Latin American identity as an BLAK DOUGLAS During our second family reunion, activist artist was solidified during (b. 1970. Blacktown, Australia) 30 years had elapsed, and the my sojourn. I felt entrenched in the PHOTO BY SALLY TSOUTAS SALLY BY PHOTO conversations flowed more easily history and traditions of the activist about their individual life-threatening artists and poets targeted through The contemporary Aboriginal art and institutionalised as a Ward of the encounters; perhaps time had healed the coup d’état. I visited the soccer realm is, by and large, governed by State at the Cootamundra Girls’ home. the immediate pain. Visiting the stadium, where Victor Jara was among authoritarian caucasians and or foreign This piece was painted referencing Museum of Memory and Human Rights the first detained. His treatment First Nation subordinates. Granted, an archival photograph of her in her with my cousins solidified our joint was the embodiment of the fierce since entering its capricious landscape late teens. The portrait was taken at mission to draw attention to human determination to silence a culture. First, rights violations committed by the the soldiers broke both his hands so some twenty years ago, I’ve often been a photographer’s studio on George Chilean state between 1973 and 1990. he could not play the guitar, then they scrutinised regarding my identity. Street, Sydney, as was popular during Perhaps blak fullas conceived nepotism the era. However, when ‘dark’ subjects My artistic identity and heritage were shot him forty-four times, according as a cultural past time. A veritable ‘rank sat before photographers it was strengthened when I recently returned to Chile’s truth and reconciliation & file’ measure to be rolled out at the fashionable to excessively powder the in 2019. I spent my days absorbing my commission. To make sure he could very gates of the institutions guarded face and don three quarter length white cultural institutions and revolutionary not inspire from beyond the grave, the closely by their security swipe card. gloves. This (in societies mind), made icons, Gabriela Mistral (the first Latin regime ordered his master recordings the whole experience a little more American to win the Nobel Prize in destroyed. He was one of thousands of Domestic Violets is a triptych featuring Literature in 1945), Pablo Neruda, leftist academics, artists and activists three large canvases (portrait) palatable for all. 3 Violeta Parra, and Victor Jara. Jara rounded up in the stadium . A culture painted in only the hues of violet. Young Chlorine was trained into was tortured and executed in the was being deliberately exterminated. This suite of works draws focus on the servitude and worked on properties immediate aftermath of the coup in I am inspired by the canon of Latin disenfranchising of my tribal origins and as a domestic as far as Brewarrina 1973. One of the last songs he wrote artists, and my objective as an artist the homogenising of the descendants and Walgett. She was ‘released’ at age was called “Manifiesto”, it reinforced my is to encourage empathy and critical whom were / are expected to assimilate seventeen and presumably returned to conviction to continue exhibiting and reflection. I live in Australia, but I am and coexist today, within the youngest Jerseyville (Kempsey) for an undisclosed creating artworks that connect to my a Latin American artist, and I hope British colony on the planet. It is period. At some point in this time, activist legacy. my art also inspires the community indeed a perplexing experience to Chlorine met her future husband Every cultural institution, mural and to celebrate humanity and social ultimately reach a point in one’s life, Frederick Hill. Later she bore my Father graffiti was a reminder of my mixed justice. My commitment to my lineage having become ‘woke’ and surmising Robert and following stints of residing heritage. European, North American, is to continue to create artworks that one is a celebrated example of at Thubbagah (Dubbo) she would return that celebrate perseverance, despite Middle East and the Aymara people. Commonwealth assimilation. to Kempsey and live at Burnt Bridge The Aymara people are an indigenous adversity and reveal the cultural bonds The center canvas is a portrait of my Mission. A tragic bout of Pneumonia saw nation in the Andes and Altiplano that unite us. Father’s Mother, Chlorine Morthem her pass in my Father’s arms at the age regions of South America, about 2.3 (Dhungatti). Typically leading a harsh of 36. Dad recalls his joy riding atop the life of a ‘half-caste’. Stolen at 13yrs electric polisher at the Westpac Bank 3 In 2004 it was renamed Víctor Jara Stadium as a memorial to the folk singer 8 9 INTERGENERATIONAL FAUNA

in Dubbo on the evenings that Nanna As a companion to ‘Domestic Violets’, I was no stranger to such having had Lizzie Drew, half - caste, 14 years, Morthem would spend buffing the I have presented ‘Scarred for life’, a exquisite pieces created upon both and Chlorine Morthem, half - floors. He said that ‘by the time Nanna video installation in collaboration with hands a few years prior. An artist and caste, 13 years, to be removed to had finished, you could see your face in director and cinematographer Rowan mate whom I’d much admired in the Cootamundra’. the floor and the handrails’. du Boisee and editing, colour grading past - ‘Flex’ was conveniently working The words are now tattooed across The paintings flanking the center and sound design by Angelica Cristina out of ‘Little Tokyo’ Tattoo Parlour just my heart. They hurt… twice. This is portrait of Nanna Morthem feature Dio. down the road. Dear colleagues Cristina my monument. My Grandmother was pop art style domestic cleaning This video piece is a dedication to my and Rowan, astute cinematographic removed from her family home on the products. The almost comical irony Great Uncle, Great Aunt & Grandmother, aficionados had already begun piecing 11th March, 1924. The 11th of March is in the information and names of the each stolen from their Jerseyville home together a documentary on myself my birthday. This date shall now be labels attribute the perfect metaphors mid-North coast New South Wales,1928. and Nanna Morthem so they were only my public holiday however I shan’t be pertaining the ‘white Australia policy’. To place into perspective, fourteen too keen to comply with my wishes in waving an Aussie flag. Examples include - ‘removes 99.9% years of age was / is particularly late to creating this video piece. germs’, ‘White King’ and my stylised ‘Oh kidnap a child. Generally, First Nations For the second time I was contacted No’ (Omo). Of course, the title ‘Domestic children were removed under the by the State Archives regarding Violets’ is a sad yet quirky play of words age of ten. Therefore, the word would additional records of Nanna’s ‘working’ closely resembling domestic violence. have been directed via the Aboriginal life. Previously, the staff there had An all too common fact of life within Protection Board (APB) for a specific invited Dad and myself to a morning the general Aboriginal populace and aged female of specific skin tone, tea whence they’d presented Dad with a direct result of intergenerational sought for a white pastoralist family several photographic reproductions trauma. Violet as my primary colour somewhere afar. If it weren’t heart of images he’d never seen before of of choice is an adoption of mood. breaking enough to have one’s younger his Mum. Sadly Dad had passed by Having not come close to meeting my child taken captive by the Government time the archives team arranged our only Aboriginal Nanna, I’ve envisaged Officials, imagine your child being at the second meeting. An antique ledger her sweetness and softness and delightful age of mid-teens being swept revealed a paragraph featuring the caring nature. To me, this colour best away before your eyes. words that hit me like the sound of a represents the colour of cultural change Being familiar with a variety of cell door slamming. The words written and ironically ventures close to the ceremonial practices of various First by the white man’s hand that would official colour of the . Nations here, I sought to replicate my determine the fate of Chlorine Morthem The highly detailed pointillist technique own faux initiation via the fashionable and her dislocation from her Dhungatti is designed to give the obvious modern western medium of tattooing. tribal origins and idealistic lifestyle at ‘Aboriginal’ aesthetic which acts as Many initiations involve scarification Jerseyville. Her thereby conscription to an antithesis given that; it was the and endurance of pain. I’d heard that the white Australia policy would read - Aboriginal aesthetic that was forcibly the sternum presented a particularly ‘Fred Drew, half - caste, 13 years removed from my Grandmother and her sensitive experience when being ‘inked’. to be removed to Singleton Home, Dhungatti tribes people. 10 11 THE WALL THAT TRAVELS WITHIN ME state. The then Sri Lanka Freedom disappearances became the order of Party (SLFP) led coalition government the day. JAGATH DHEERASEKARA crushed it within a few weeks with (b. 1965. Colombo, Sri Lanka) The European Parliament’s mission a grossly violent military response. to Sri Lanka in 1990, which three The government of Sri Lanka received members of Students for Human military and economic aid from a “A team of researchers has discovered, last century, that this colourful ancient Rights, including myself, met with number of countries including the with the help of residents of the area, work of art was given life and slowly in clandestine, reported that United States, Britain and Australia a new large species of the genus gathered strength to prey on humans’. “..various estimates we have received to suppress the insurrection. I was a Bangarusa making its home in a People, particularly young men and suggest that at least 60,000 people young child at the time and have some rock cave at an ancient archeological women have been disappearing for disappeared in the south of Sri Lanka distant memories of the occasional site near Medawachchiya, Sri Lanka. sometime in the area. Aggrieved family since 1987. This represents about sounds of gunfire and curfews that ran This highly venomous snake ‘whose members of nearby Sinhala and Tamil one in every 250 of the [southern] for days on end. My family’s life wasn’t 1 staple diet is human flesh appears villages, wandering in search of their population.” directly affected by the events. to be an unusual kind’, Dr Pahan loved ones who had fallen victim to this In October 1991, by which time I was Jayakody, a herpetologist told ACR two headed snake, paved way to its The second uprising of the JVP, which in exile, the United Nations Working News. Scientific research has confirmed discovery”. spanned from 1987 to 1990 captured Group on Enforced and Involuntary that Bungarus ceylonicus or Sri Lanka - Elaine Balmond, ACR News, the public imagination and gained Disappearances visited Sri Lanka. The krait and Panthera leo or Lion were the Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, 18 May 2009. wider popular support in the majority Working Group report stated that the evolutionary relatives of this unique Sinhalese south of the country, in disappearances which had occurred species. The newfound species, named challenging the existing socio political in Sri Lanka between 1983 and 1991, Little effort is needed to understand Bangarusa panthera is the newest oppression. The United National Party involving all parts of the country from that the story of the two headed snake addition to the list of endemic fauna (UNP) government in power at the Tamil majority North to Sinhalese is fictitious. However, the violence of of Sri Lanka, a globally important time countered it with a response that majority South was “by far the highest the Sri Lankan state towards its people centre of endemism. Deputy Director eclipsed the violence of 1971, both number ever recorded by the Working - both Sinhalese and Tamil - is no of the Institute of Archeology and in its scale as well as brutality. My Group for any single country.”2 fiction. It was and is factual. life during this period as a student Ancient Civilisations, Professor Ravindra Four Presidential Commissions were Large scale violence by the State, activist was marked by detention and Palangasinge, a world renowned appointed between 1994 and 1998 to frequently involving torture and torture which was then followed by an zooarchaeologist said; ‘this two investigate the “disappearances” that death in custody, has become a norm underground life to avoid recapture headed reptile had been documented occurred across the island from 1988 in dealing with dissent, in post- and death. Led by military as well by Edward Charles Gordon, a colonial to 1994. As has been noted by the independent Sri Lanka. In 1971, a as paramilitary groups affiliated to era archaeologist on a plastered wall United States Institute of Peace,“[o] relatively new leftist party, the People’s the government, extrajudicial killings of the rock cave. He described it as a f the several thousand suspected mythical creature in Buddhist-Sinhala Liberation Front (JVP), mainly driven with public display of victims and art and dated it to 3rd century A.D. i.e. by the younger generation, staged an 1 Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament 1990, Report of Investigative Mission Anurdhapura period. It was only in the uprising, entirely homegrown and with into Alleged Violation of Human Rights in Sri Lanka 27 October - 4 November 1990. the ambition of ushering a socialist 2 The Asia Watch Committee of Human Rights Watch 1992, Human Rights Accountability in Sri Lanka. 12 13 THE WALL THAT TRAVELS WITHIN ME

perpetrators that the commissions floppy disks with me on my journey final stage of the war, another probe by Meanwhile, facts, memories, reflections identified, less than 500 were indicted back home. They each contained the UN concluded that other sources on the past and future within the and even fewer were convicted.”3 information about political violence “have referred to credible information nation inch slowly towards oblivion. By 1991, with the virtual decimation and human rights violations that indicating that over 70,000 people are of the JVP’s second uprising, the Sri occurred in the south of Sri Lanka unaccounted for.” Yasmin L Sooka, who Lankan government fully focused on from 1987 to 1990. After immigrating to was a member of the United Nations defeating the Tamil liberation struggle Australia I managed to recover some Report of the Secretary-General’s in the north and east of Sri Lanka, of the data on these disks. I continued Panel of Experts on Accountability led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil gathering records and reports related in Sri Lanka which investigated war Eelam (LTTE). The Sri Lankan state to the 1987-90 period in the South. crimes that occurred during the final successfully weaponised Sinhala- From time to time I would take those stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War has Buddhist mythology and narratives disks out of the box in which they identified that “[y]ou can draw a direct of ancient chronicles and those were kept, look at them and then line from 1989 to 2009 in terms of the of colonial time. The mainstream safely return them back to it. One day violations and many of the characters Buddhist institution fuelled the I arranged them on my desk and it involved … Military officers who were war effort and took the frontline in looked like a wall; a wall that holds involved in crushing the second JVP mobilising the support of the country’s memories of people who were taken uprising, went on to commit war crimes Sinhala majority. Where the Sinhalese from us, some who were known to me and crimes against humanity against are concerned, the irony here is cruel; and many others not known to me. Tamils with total impunity.” She goes as a community that was already in the In 2009, the Sri Lankan government on, “[t]here is no doubt that torture in grip of the iron fist of Sri Lankan state, declared its victory against the Sri Lanka is State sponsored and is an the Sinhalese aided the very same LTTE’s struggle for an independent important instrument of State policy in State to take another, an even more Tamil homeland. The conflict, and which the full authority and structures oppressed community, into its grips. particularly the behavior of the Sri of the State are drawn in and fully This dynamic has not only bolstered Lankan military, has left deep scars on utilised to implement the policy at all 5 state repression of Tamil people in the soul of Tamil society. The Report of levels by the security forces.” Sri Lanka but also helped the State the United Nations Secretary-General’s So far, no meaningful transitional enormously to erase the collective Panel of Experts on Accountability justice or reconciliation process has memories within both communities of in Sri Lanka observed the Sri Lankan been attempted. As geopolitics of the being subjected to state violence. government’s extensive use of heavy Indian ocean region takes precedence, I returned to Sri Lanka from my life weapons and intentional disregard of regional and global powers continue to 4 in exile after the UNP regime fell in human casualties. In reference to the show a laissez-faire attitude towards the mid 1990s. I carried fifteen 5 1/4” number of civilian deaths during the Sri Lanka’s record on human rights.

3 United States Institute of Peace 1995, Commissions of Inquiry: Sri Lanka, viewed 21.01.21, https:// 5 Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka 2020, First Ever Map of Sri Lanka Identities Over 200 Torture www.usip.org/publications/1995/01/commissions-inquiry-sri-lanka. Sites, viewed 21.01.21, http://www.jdslanka.org/index.php/news-features/human-rights/956-first- 4 The Asia Watch Committee of Human Rights Watch 1992, Human Rights Accountability in Sri Lanka. ever-torture-map-of-sri-lanka-identifies-over-200-torture-sites. 14 15 QUESTIONS FOR MY SISTER, MY MOTHER, a large enamel pot. A concoction silks in the river?” MY GRANDMOTHER fundamental enough to preserve them “what are you going to do with them?” for an indefinite amount of time. She LINDA SOK (b. 1993. Cecil Hills, Australia) “to think that the practice was almost pulls out a large jar, almost as big as a erased…” child’s torso and fills it with the greens, packing them in as tightly as the stiff … How did Khmer turn on Khmer? foliage would allow. She pours in the Having everyone gather around the Where did it all fall apart? rest of the liquid. With the chopsticks dinner table is a rare thing in a family Where do I start? she forces the greenery that pokes up with so many members. But when we above the solution, below the water’s Where do I begin? do gather, the table is covered with a edge. mix of Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese, and I suppose I can begin with the question of why. Over the years I have caught glimpses Western cuisines, enough to feed our Why did it happen? of these techniques. Recently I have family of 11. Amongst all the soups, stir So many questions run through my head. adapted them into my art making. fries and seafood stacked at the table, Yet when it comes to knowing where to start, I hesitate. The method of boiling, marinating, about all I can eat is the chrouk spey. I and curing once applied to vegetables grab a bowl of rice and stack a bunch grown in the backyard are bestowed of the pickled leafy greens on top and I first learnt about the Khmer Rouge forced them to work in the rice fields, onto precious silk fabrics brought over eat until I am full. through stories my parents would tell with no proper shelters, no school, only from Cambodia. Around the afternoon is when my my sisters and me. The fragments I hard labour. No hospitals, no medicine, … Grandma takes her coffee. can recall include stories of lions that no food - people were starved to death. get tricked by mice, and rabbits that An estimated 2 million people were We sit on the floor of my mother’s What was it like? would outsmart farmers for a carrot to lost. walk-in closet to view the traditional How did you escape? chomp on. These tales were peppered kramas and silk scarves. My mother … “Nothing to eat. We were so hungry.” between stories that conveyed the would pull them out, one by one and She cuts the long leafy green great distances that they had to walk, delight in the stories behind each… “They sat us around in a circle, right vegetables from just above the root, through ponds filled with reeds and “this one was from a wedding I went near the river.” taking care not to damage the stems. leeches that would cling to their to…” “They killed them... do you know what She places them into a large red skin, and the small little treasures “this one was a gift from an old that means? To kill someone?” basket, stacking them on top of one my grandma was able to sneak away friend…” another, preparing them for drying. … in secret pockets in her shirt. Or at They sit in the sun for days. Until she is “this one we bought but we’ve never A return to year zero. least that is how I remember the ready for them. used it…” descriptions of the Khmer Rouge being Those encounters with grief, loss, and revealed to 12-year-old me. Boiling the ingredients together, she “look at this one, it’s such a nice starvation instilled deeply ground adds a measured ratio of mustard colour.” principles around food and its scarcity. The Khmer Rouge pushed people from greens to salt, sugar, and water into Despite having migrated to a new the cities into the countryside. They “did you know they used to wash the 16 17 QUESTIONS FOR MY SISTER, MY MOTHER, MY GRANDMOTHER

country, they are still haunted by fish, cucumbers, bean sprouts, Chinese I am privileged to be able to face this ghosts that tell them to hold on to cabbage and radishes last longer. tragedy one generation down. For me, things; we keep stocked on the shelves These rituals around preservation are my practice is the way through which assortments of food, water, utensils, still maintained in the safety of their I began to rediscover my Cambodian newspapers, plastic bags and other new homes. culture. Inevitably, looking back at the items that never get used but are there … culture also necessitates looking at the in case things go awry. events that broke that culture. It ends Once more, I am having to imagine her up being a never-ending unearthing of I sit at my computer writing out struggle. instructions on how to proceed: things that feel simultaneously like too How many buckets did you collect? Did much and also not enough. Step 1: Collect water from Tucoerah you get enough water? What did the I turn down to view the river, tracing River (Georges River). Use the blue water feel like, as you waded through its form in my mind. I timidly wade my buckets to do this. Perhaps you can it? Did anyone ask what you were up feet through the river and let its motion wear gum boots and wade into the to? How did you know where to go? move over my body. river. Try your best not to collect How did you get there? How thick was too much dirt along with the water. the grass that you had to walk through? I lay the silk fabrics down into the I’ve marked a path you can take on What did the leeches feel like on your salt water. An attempt to preserve Google maps. skin? Did you have enough to eat? What an ancient practice. Despite its Instead of being there in person to was running through your mind? Were classification as one of the strongest instruct my sister, I sit in front of a you afraid? How many were killed? How natural fibres in existence, I cradle screen 17,000km away, trying to picture did you survive? it like a fragile body in my arms and slowly set it down to float in the what she would be feeling, trying to Questions for my sister, my mother, my healing solution I have created. Gently, anticipate her moves and preface any grandmother. difficulties she might encounter. the pieces of salt drift towards the silk, Through the process of collecting water each of the crystal structures encasing Step 19: If the salt has dropped to for this work I can’t help the questions the cloth beneath. I hang them out to the bottom of the bucket and not that present themselves in my mind. So dry on the clothesline, ready to process attached to the fabric, then adjust much was lost during that period. So the next batch. the fabric so it sits on the floor of much left unsaid. Connections between the bucket. Be careful, if the water generations ebb and wane as the is hot it might burn you. Also, if you closeness of the mother tongue fades have cuts on your hand, this will and no longer passes through the lips sting. of younger generations. The act of preservation became crucial When did you begin to feel safe again? for survival. Salt in particular became a … vital ingredient for making food such as

18 19 PUBLIC PROGRAMS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CASULA POWERHOUSE STAFF

TO REGISTER FOR ANY OF THE PUBLIC PROGRAMS AS PART OF Craig Donarski - Director LOSS, SCAN THIS QR CODE: Nikita Karvounis - Assistant Director Jenny Cheeseman - Head of Curatorial Luke Létourneau - Acting Head of Curatorial FORBIDDEN Forbidden Conversations will be a single event at Ellen Hewitt - Acting Curator CONVERSATIONS: Casula Powerhouse, held during LOSS exhibition. HUMAN RIGHTS Megan Hillyer - Registrar It will run for two hours in the Theatre at Casula Caitlin McCormack - Assistant Registrar Sat 19 June • 11am-12pm Powerhouse. There will be a panel of speakers $15 • For ages 16 + including a representative from the human rights David Langosch, Rochelle Briggenshaw - Technical Producers perspective and contemporary artist. Cayn Rosmarin - Producer of Public Programs Di McClaughlin - Public Programs Officer Clara McGuirk - Strategic Events Lead GENERATOR: Meet fellow art loving friends and find out tips and Nikki Akbar - Festival and Events Producer MASTER ART hints for advancing your art practice through a series CLASSES of professional development sessions. The sessions Renee Walker - Venue Hire and Events Officer Sat 19 June • 1-4pm are guided by experienced practicing artist who will Lillian Silk - Music, Theatre & Events Producer $50 • For ages 16 + encourage participants to develop both creative and Sanja Vukelja - Customer Relations and Visitor Experience Supervisor professional skills Ance Frasca, Vesna Ristevski, Brittney Robinson - Visitor Services Officer Our first session is led by artist Jagath Dheerasekara Boden Evans - Marketing Lead to celebrate the exhibition LOSS. Jagath will go into Cara Lopez - Marketing and Communications Assistant the creative art making processes of creating and Koby Hollingworth - Administration Co-Ordinator developing a political and social art practice. Lisa Bowen - Administration Assistant Federico Rekowski - Head Chef, Bellbird EXHIBITION CAFÉ The Exhibition Café is about opening the conversation Steven Pham - Sous Chef, Bellbird – HOME of diverse topic relating to the exhibitions at Casula Rosemary Becker - Bellbird Café Staff Saturdays Powerhouse Art Centre. It is an opportunity to have Daniel Charet - Site Caretaker (Internal) 15, 29 May, 12 & 26 June informal discussions with a range of professionals, Catalogue design - Mandarin Creative 10-11.30am • $25 per including artists. Open to, and respectful of, people session or $60 for 4 of all communities and belief systems. For ages 18+ This program will align with ideas and themes from - George Gittoes: on being there, LOSS and Gina.

WWW.CASULAPOWERHOUSE.COM • GALLERY ENTRY IS FREE! www.casulapowerhouse.com/visit/casula-powerhouse-exhibitions/2021-exhibitions/loss 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula • Open 9am–5pm weekdays, 9am–4pm weekends 20 3