By Derek Schlennstedt
Art has the uncanny ability to overcome all cultural and ethnic differences.
Like a universal language it brings people together and for so many it is a means of escaping their reality and offers a way to express and distil how they feel about the world around them.
So how would a Hazara man who has spent almost four years at a detention centre feel, and what would his art express?
On October 27, as part of ‘Patchfest’, The Patch Primary School will unveil an exhibit of Naser’s work- a Hazara man from Afghanistan.
For the past year students from grade one to six have spoken to, leant from and even visited Naser at his Detention Centre.
Through Naser’s evocative and stunning art he portrays his journey from Afghanistan to Australia and the time he has spent awaiting freedom.
Sofia Walsh, art teacher at The Patch Primary said the school connected with Naser through her involvement with Kindred, a group of compassionate people supporting people seeking Asylum who informed Sofia about Naser’s artistic prowess.
Since then the school have regularly been in contact with Naser , holding art classes and learning about his journey.
“The first lesson which was over a year ago and we did it with the whole school,” Sofia said.
“They were just hooked, they wanted to learn more and wanted to write; they were upset .”
“The first thing they do was paint pictures of what freedom looks like to them, and the wrote letters on the back saying ‘we wish you had our freedom.’”
Sofia said that through Naser the students have gained an insight into the treatment of refugees in Australia with some of her grade three and four students even sending letters to Peter Dutton.
The exhibition is called A New Hope and represents the hope that Naser has been given by meeting the student but his artwork also features prominent imagery surrounding his wish to live in Australia
“It’s called a new hope and its about his journey from Afghanistan to Australia and now his life in detention, but still has that hope of calling Australia his home,” Sofia said.
“You can see that in his paintings as despite his struggle and the treatment that he’s experienced they are all highly evocative paintings.”
Students have embraced the art program with many even travelling to the detention centre where Naser is held to meet him.
Grade five student Finn described the detention centre as resembling a jail and added that each time they visit, Naser is always glad to see them.
“I think he feels lonely at the detention centre only because it’s not a very nice place to be in,” he said.
“I think his painting shows his fight for freedom and when he starts painting, every bad memory and everything that’s happened to him in the past he’s able to put behind him.”
He uses paining like I guess how we have a resilience plan at school.”
The exhibition will feature at the Patch Primary School as part of Patchfest on 27 October and will be unveiled at the school library at 4pm.
To find out more about Kindred, which was formed by a group of like-minded woman from the Dandenong Ranges you can go to http://www.kindredkindness.org/about.
