Arts activism for refugees

Arts activist Scotia Monkivitch has devised performances and installations to poetically engage the public in a dialogue and bring to the fore the inequalities when borders are enforced.
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Image: www.walkingborders.net

Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders fiercely demarcates the coastline of Australia as a closed border to any outsiders – boasted loudly and clearly through “NO WAY YOU WILL MAKE AUSTRALIA HOME” campaign posters. Such hostility unashamedly communicates the limits of the Australian Government’s care for those seeking refuge.

What is most puzzling about such vehement exclusion is that Australia is a nation created by colonisers who have perpetually asserted that they have a privileged right to exclusively claim it as their own. Borders are designed and constructed by a privileged few to exclude and disadvantage many. Through the enactment of borders, they define people, place and activity.

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Dr Louise Phillips & Dr Carles Gutierrez-Sanfeliu
About the Author
Dr Louise Phillips is a human rights activist and lecturer in the School of Education at The University of Queensland, who researches walking as arts practice and civic engagement. Dr Carles Gutierrez-Sanfeliu is a Lecturer in Spanish in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at The University of Queensland.