LOSS ARTISTS: DAMON AMB, MIRIAM CABELLO, BLAK DOUGLAS, JAGATH DHEERASEKARA AND LINDA SOK - Casula Powerhouse
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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
1CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
A
1 Powerhouse Rd, ustralia is a country where This booklet features an essay by
Introduction 1
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)
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
The Wall That Travels Within Me into reconnecting with culture, home,
casulapowerhouse.com LOSS is an exhibition exploring the
family, and friends. The exhibition is
Linda Sok: Questions for My Sister, 16 impact of leaving a homeland, by those
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
Powerhouse Arts Centre. offer more poetic and conversational
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
permission of the artists,
their own stories of loss of homeland and forced homelands, and the intergenerational It is important that artists are provided
migration. If you are experiencing emotional distress
authors and Casula Powerhoue impacts. Some of the artists use the support and freedom to tell stories
Arts Centre. Opinions expressed help is available. Please contact Lifeline.
in the publication are those of Lifeline provides confidential crisis support that is
their art to directly communicate in the ways they believe their stories
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
Arts Centre. have informed their loss, while others of their telling. We hope the exhibition
emotional distress, or caring for someone in crisis to
call or text Lifeline. make works capturing the feelings and this collection of essays help
Published by Casula
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 1how 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. Tehran, Iran) 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 and literature, this trend remains
art. Photography transforms the
Ahmad Shamlou. ‘I wish’ is used a lot violations and restrictions, I spent strong as political and social pressures
momentary lapse of being into eternal
in his poetry and so many poets have months being processed in Australia’s continue to permeate all institutions of
memories.
used it in different ways. I wish there immigration detention facilities. I was culture. Nima Yooshij, Ahmad Shamlou,
was justice in the world. held in two detention centres before I I see myself in the way the cow is
Forough Farrokhzad, Akhavan Saales
was released and granted a protection looking, lost in the dark, unidentified in
are some of our contemporary poets
visa. I was released with a bridging limbo. I see myself in the unidentified
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
When things pass by and pass by on. After my release from detention my chop and leave me? I see myself in a
audiences are accustomed to looking
and pass by family sent me my camera. basement at the National Art School
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
without being seen by the people past time for me. This evolved into the deeper meaning in the scenes and
others have been tortured to death.
and the world Night Series, which is featured in this images that I experience.
I am hidden in these different shapes
exhibition. The Night Series started Feelings are often unfolding in my
and I’m getting rusted and rusted of essence and form. I am looking at
as my coping mechanism to express images, and whether the image is
and rusted myself.
my art through photography. I feel straight-forward or abstract it is a
– by Damon AMB, compelled to capture these images Metaphor is very important in my
direct reflection of my memory or
inspired by Ahmad Shamlou because they evoke traces of hidden art, and is important throughout the
experiences. ‘The Butterfly Effect,’ in
dangers, phobias, taboos, traumas and history my country’s art. It is abundant
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 Omar Khayyam, Ferdowsi, Hafez,
fleeing my homeland of Iran in 2013 as they emerge from the darkness, reaction that changed my destiny. I
Rumi, Khaqani, Attar, Nezāmi, Rudaki
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 3CRYPTIC 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
‘The Final Embrace’ is a recently 1973, the Chilean Military violently
mentally. She told me: and feelings I experience during this
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. In 1971, my parents fled the impending
enigma by the end of its writing as it
things will make me even stronger. The photo is blurry, and rightly so as doom of Chile’s internationally-backed
takes full form as an abstract painting. it symbolises how our memories fade
And things did get better. Her words 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 Pinochet and his supporters
portraiture, even though my face rarely Simply shared kinship in humanity
at the age of four the meaning of consistently referred to the events
appears in them. The photos depict a
loneliness. I lost my best friend, my of September 11 not as a coup d’état
person who has experienced deep loss,
cousin Chanito. The friendships, but as “a war.” Santiago certainly
physical abuse, fear and sadness – but
companionships and bonds that looked like a war zone: tanks fired as
also – I hope they depict a person who
begin in childhood did not evolve into they rolled down the boulevards, and
has experienced incredible moments
adulthood for my cousins and me. government buildings were under air
of transformation, strength and
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 5THE 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
the loss of a city, the loss of the streets known for its habit of spitting, the relationship with my Tio Silvano.
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
(poor neighbourhoods were without both were conscripted by the army. My collective Latin American story.
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 7THE FINAL EMBRACE
INTERGENERATIONAL
PHOTO BY SALLY TSOUTAS
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
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
shot him forty-four times, according Perhaps blak fullas conceived nepotism the era. However, when ‘dark’ subjects
My artistic identity and heritage were
to Chile’s truth and reconciliation as a cultural past time. A veritable ‘rank sat before photographers it was
strengthened when I recently returned
commission. To make sure he could & file’ measure to be rolled out at the fashionable to excessively powder the
in 2019. I spent my days absorbing my
not inspire from beyond the grave, the very gates of the institutions guarded face and don three quarter length white
cultural institutions and revolutionary
regime ordered his master recordings closely by their security swipe card. gloves. This (in societies mind), made
icons, Gabriela Mistral (the first Latin
destroyed. He was one of thousands of Domestic Violets is a triptych featuring the whole experience a little more
American to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1945), Pablo Neruda, leftist academics, artists and activists three large canvases (portrait) palatable for all.
Violeta Parra, and Victor Jara. Jara rounded up in the stadium3. 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
Middle East and the Aymara people. that celebrate perseverance, despite
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 of 36. Dad recalls his joy riding atop the
(Dhungatti). Typically leading a harsh
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 9INTERGENERATIONAL 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 Catholic church. 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 The European Parliament’s mission
(b. 1965. Colombo, Sri Lanka)
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 Rights, including myself, met with
“A team of researchers has discovered, last century, that this colourful ancient
number of countries including the in clandestine, reported that
with the help of residents of the area, work of art was given life and slowly
United States, Britain and Australia “..various estimates we have received
a new large species of the genus gathered strength to prey on humans’.
to suppress the insurrection. I was a suggest that at least 60,000 people
Bangarusa making its home in a People, particularly young men and
young child at the time and have some disappeared in the south of Sri Lanka
rock cave at an ancient archeological women have been disappearing for
distant memories of the occasional since 1987. This represents about
site near Medawachchiya, Sri Lanka. sometime in the area. Aggrieved family
sounds of gunfire and curfews that ran one in every 250 of the [southern]
This highly venomous snake ‘whose members of nearby Sinhala and Tamil
for days on end. My family’s life wasn’t population.”1
staple diet is human flesh appears villages, wandering in search of their
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 oppression. The United National Party
Bangarusa panthera is the newest involving all parts of the country from
that the story of the two headed snake (UNP) government in power at the
addition to the list of endemic fauna Tamil majority North to Sinhalese
is fictitious. However, the violence of time countered it with a response that
of Sri Lanka, a globally important majority South was “by far the highest
the Sri Lankan state towards its people eclipsed the violence of 1971, both
centre of endemism. Deputy Director number ever recorded by the Working
- both Sinhalese and Tamil - is no in its scale as well as brutality. My
of the Institute of Archeology and 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
Palangasinge, a world renowned Large scale violence by the State, activist was marked by detention and
appointed between 1994 and 1998 to
zooarchaeologist said; ‘this two frequently involving torture and torture which was then followed by an
investigate the “disappearances” that
headed reptile had been documented death in custody, has become a norm underground life to avoid recapture
occurred across the island from 1988
by Edward Charles Gordon, a colonial in dealing with dissent, in post- and death. Led by military as well
to 1994. As has been noted by the
era archaeologist on a plastered wall independent Sri Lanka. In 1971, a as paramilitary groups affiliated to
United States Institute of Peace,“[o]
of the rock cave. He described it as a relatively new leftist party, the People’s the government, extrajudicial killings
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 13THE 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
state repression of Tamil people in the soul of Tamil society. The Report of levels by the security forces.”5
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
in exile after the UNP regime fell in human casualties.4 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 15QUESTIONS FOR MY
SISTER, MY MOTHER, a large enamel pot. A concoction silks in the river?”
MY GRANDMOTHER fundamental enough to preserve them
for an indefinite amount of time. She
“what are you going to do with them?”
LINDA SOK (b. 1993. Cecil Hills, Australia) pulls out a large jar, almost as big as a
“to think that the practice was almost
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 do gather, the table is covered with a
Where do I begin?
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 delight in the stories behind each… “They sat us around in a circle, right
great distances that they had to walk,
vegetables from just above the root, “this one was from a wedding I went near the river.”
through ponds filled with reeds and
taking care not to damage the stems. to…”
leeches that would cling to their “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 “did you know they used to wash the Despite having migrated to a new
the cities into the countryside. They
16 17QUESTIONS 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
I sit at my computer writing out up being a never-ending unearthing of
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
River (Georges River). Use the blue I turn down to view the river, tracing
water feel like, as you waded through
buckets to do this. Perhaps you can its form in my mind. I timidly wade my
it? Did anyone ask what you were up
wear gum boots and wade into the feet through the river and let its motion
to? How did you know where to go?
river. Try your best not to collect move over my body.
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
what she would be feeling, trying to slowly set it down to float in the
Questions for my sister, my mother, my
anticipate her moves and preface any healing solution I have created. Gently,
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 19PUBLIC 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
David Langosch, Rochelle Briggenshaw - Technical Producers
$15 • For ages 16 + including a representative from the human rights
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
MASTER ART Nikki Akbar - Festival and Events Producer
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/visit/casula-powerhouse-exhibitions/2021-exhibitions/loss
WWW.CASULAPOWERHOUSE.COM • GALLERY ENTRY IS FREE!
1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula • Open 9am–5pm weekdays, 9am–4pm weekends
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