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Portraits of Protest: The Kangaroo Point 120

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posted on 2024-05-20, 00:23 authored by Kasun Ubayasiri, Kaya Barry, Ari Balle-Bowness

'Portraits of Protest: The Kangaroo Point 120' is the story of a community that rallied around a group of refugees and asylum seekers who stepped on to the balcony of their makeshift detention centre in a Kangaroo Point motel. Using creative arts, photojournalism, and ethnographic accounts, the collection of photographs on display have been collected by the research team (Kasun Ubayasiri, Kaya Barry, Ari Balle-Bowness) and compiled into a format that puts the public interest of these protest events on display. Photographic portraits, later hand-written over by the protesters with their messages of support, show their reflections of the events during these tumultuous months of protest on the street.

The compilation and format of the photographic prints - arranged to show direct, confronting, imagery of the protesters in close-up, staring directly at the exhibition viewer, distort the more generic media documentation of protest events. Use of a specific viewing angle, the hand-written messages, and the choice and layout of the 120 portraits ask exhibition viewers to consider their 'street level' involvement in these events. The large banners hung high above in the interior of the building show photographs of the asylum seekers on the balconies, looking down at the viewers in the space. Drawing on influence from scholarship on the geographies of borders, the power of communal and creative participatory action in protest, and the long history of violence and protest around Australia's immigration policies and detention regimes, this exhibition and accompanying exhibition catalogue, is a significant documentation of a pivotal moment in Brisbane’s social history and the community of everyday people at its core.

Funding

Australian Research Council (ARC) (Grant ID: DE220100394, Grant title: Momentarily immobile: the futures of backpacking and seasonal farm workers)

History

ERA Category

  • Curated Public Exhibition/Event - Exhibition/Event

Eligible major research output?

  • Yes

Research Statement

Background: This exhibition is an accumulation of photographic, journalistic, and community-engaged arts research with the local Brisbane community who are involved in refugee advocacy. The exhibition documents the 'Kangaroo Point' protests, in which 120 refugees were detained for months on end in an inner-city motel. It documents 54 weeks of protest and community engagement, interrogating how local members of a community came to be involved on-the-ground in political activism and compassionate activities. Contribution: This exhibition explores the role of documentary photography in shifting the power dynamic inherent in visualising refugees in Australia, as well as conceptually exploring the 'refugee' as an object of public scrutiny. Building on recent scholarship from visual politics, migration, political geography, border studies, and photojournalism, the exhibition explores how refugees have been subjected to a particular 'gaze' where their migration narratives are mediated, mediatised, dissected and weaponised against them. The exhibition subverts that gaze by turning the lens onto the Australian public, and directly engaging with the local residents who attended these lengthy protest events, in follow-up documentation and collaborative activities. Significance: An exhibition at the renowned Brisbane Powerhouse is a testament to the community significance and historical moment that our collaborative project captured. This exhibition highlights this pivotal moment in Brisbane's history, and indeed, Australia's immigration policy and decisions, of which the detention of refugees in on-shore accommodation facilities received worldwide attention. Numerous media stories were published on our exhibition and the following events of the protests in 2020-2021. Further, ABC Radio National hosted a live broadcast from the exhibition on June 15 2023, showing the breadth of audience and public interest in this historic event captured by the exhibition.

Publisher

Brisbane Powerhouse

Place of publication

Brisbane

Confidential / Culturally sensitive

  • No

References

Ubayasiri, K., & Balle-Bowness, A. (2023). A photo-journalistic exploration of COVID, refugees, and Brisbane’s polymorphic border. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544231157254c Jerrems, A., Barry, K., Burridge, A. & Ozguc, U. (2023). Border Hotels: Spaces of Detention and Quarantine. Environment and planning C: Politics and Space, online first, DOI: 10.1177/23996544231157254 Ubayasiri, K. (2021). Manus to Meanjin: A case study of refugee migration, polymorphic borders and Australian “imperialism.” Pacific Journalism Review, 27(1/2), 269–282. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.093643645980031

Medium

Photographic installation

Exhibition date from

2023-06-06

Exhibition date to

2023-07-24

Was the work disseminated?

  • Yes

Form of dissemination

  • Exhibition

Scope of dissemination

  • National

Did the work go on tour?

  • No

Venue

Brisbane Powerhouse

Venue address

Yagara Country, 119 Lamington St, New Farm, Queensland, Australia

Location of work

Brisbane

Name of publication

Portraits of Protest: The Kangaroo Point 120

Reference number

6764654

Curation Step

  • Complete

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