Article 15

Beka Hannah

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 02:58:51 +0000

Beka Hannah website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 13:58

Beka Hannah holds a Masters of Fine Art from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. With a multi-disciplinary craft-based practice, Beka’s work revolves around a re-imagination of the everyday, with a strong focus on engagement with the natural world and a specific focus towards conservation.

Her ongoing investigations explore the viewer’s engagement with the natural world in an attempt to examine our own impact on the environment. Her work often takes the form of large-scale textile installations using crochet, however, she also draws on other craft skills such as embroidery, sewing, knitting, ceramics and even blacksmithing to experiment with diverse outcomes.

Beka Hannah

English

Australia

Australian, raised in New Zealand

I was born in Australia, raised in New Zealand, and moved back to Australia at 19. As a person who doesn’t really identify with a nationality, I’m interested and almost envious of how people are tied to where they come from.

In a world where people are so often displaced from their homeland, a nationality is a thread to their history and heritage. The idea that people may have this thread taken from them seems incredibly unjust, as does denying people a link to a new country they decided to make home.

I appliquéd and embroidered a map of the world and sewed the Article’s text on the ocean, because in a way the ocean connects us all. I added a small ship approaching Australia because throughout the making of this block, Australia’s shameful ‘boat people’ policy and detention of innocent people offshore continued, and we continued denying people their rights. We need to do better.

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Article 15

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Red quilt

Eva Heiky Olga Abbinga

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:09:57 +0000

Eva Heiky Olga Abbinga website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:09

Eva Abbinga is a cross-disciplinary visual artist motivated by an interest in the complexities of place, identity and sustainability. Through large-scale soft sculpture, textiles and photography, Eva explores issues of social, environmental and economic concern and aims to create a dialogue with the viewer that questions existing notions of the urban ideal. Her practice is informed by her Dutch and Ukrainian heritage as well as her experience in urban planning. Eva works collaboratively with other artists, community groups and craftspeople.

She is currently based in Melbourne, Australia.

Eva Heiky Olga Abbinga

Ukrainian

Australia

Ukrainian, Dutch

My family came to Australia after World War II: Ukrainian refugees on my mother’s side and Dutch immigrants on my father’s side. Both sides were seeking a safe place to raise their families. While my Dutch family strongly believed in assimilation, for my mother’s parents, holding onto their culture was crucial in maintaining a link to their homeland and carrying on their ancestors’ traditions. As a child I was taught Ukrainian dancing, learnt the bandura and was a Ukrainian Scout.

My work draws on the personal, using batik and hand-embroidery to create the Article, which has been translated into the Ukrainian language. While Australia offers my family sanctuary, it also has policies that keep other refugee families in appalling conditions and disadvantage the Indigenous people of this land. I question the concept of nationalism and identity politics in a globalised world, and dream of a time when all people live in peace and harmony.

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Article 15

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Green quilt

Tal Fitzpatrick

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:29:30 +0000

Tal Fitzpatrick website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:29

Tal Fitzpatrick is an artist, researcher, activist and community development worker based in Melbourne, Australia. She is an exhibiting artist and a published academic with extensive experience working in the non-profit sector as a community development worker, and an adult educator in community disaster resilience-building.

Born in Israel in 1988, Tal moved to the Gold Coast, Australia, with her family in 1996 where she went on to graduate from Griffith University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours majoring in contemporary arts and studies in arts and creative industries. Following her Honours, Tal worked in the non-profit sector as a community development worker for four years before going back to complete a PhD on ‘Craftivism as a Mode of DIY Citizenship’ with the Centre for Cultural Partnership at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne.

Tal creates artwork using the techniques of appliqué quilting, drawing and painting to create large-scale, figurative, textile wall-hangings. Driven by the power of craft to solicit the sharing of stories, her socially engaged work looks to drive social change by engaging diverse groups of people in complex conversations.

Tal Fitzpatrick

English

Australia

Israeli, Australian

Having no nationality is one of the most vulnerable positions a person can be in. Stateless people often have difficulty accessing basic rights: to go to school, see a doctor, get a job, open a bank account, buy a house or even get married.

I am fortunate to be a dual citizen, however in my birth country, Israel, and in the country where I live, Australia, human rights violations are perpetrated against stateless people. The contestation of Palestine’s status as an independent state and Israel’s control of Palestinian borders negatively impact the lives of Palestinians and their right to freedom of movement. In Australia, people seeking asylum who, because they are stateless, lack travel documentation, are held indefinitely in offshore detention in conditions the United Nations describes as ‘inhuman.’

We can make a difference by donating to charities that support asylum seekers, and by pressuring politicians to create humane policies, end conflict, and address climate change—predicted to cause mass displacement.

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Article 15

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Blue quilt

Kristine Berg

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:49:30 +0000

Kristine Berg website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:49

Kristine Berg has worked in theatre, film, and television as a prop-maker, prop master, costume craftsmaker and costume textile artist for over 40 years. An American citizen, she moved to Cape Town, South Africa, with her husband in 2006, and has been committed to introducing and mentoring talented people who had been unaware of the career potential of their creativity. She has worked on projects in Nigeria, Morocco, Qatar and Hungary, as well as South Africa and the United States, which has given her the opportunity to collaborate with people from a variety of cultures. She is hoping to eventually divide her time between Cape Town and Oregon, and to concentrate on creating her own voice as a mixed-materials textile artist.

Kristine Berg

English

South Africa

American

In one country, citizenship may be determined by where one was born; in another country, it may be determined by to whom one was born. While blood and soil make up our identities and our place in the world, I believe it is an emotional sense of Home that determines my loyalties and citizenship. We are all part of the blood and the soil of this world.

As a US expat living in South Africa, I was struck by the arbitrariness of citizenship and how privileged myself and my family are to hold passports, to be able to travel from one country to another, and especially to know how to navigate the bureaucratic systems which can be so baffling to immigrants.

Blood, soil: we are all born with the same desire to live the best we can.

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Article 15

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Yellow quilt