Boundless Plains to Share…Yeah, Nah

Australia is meant to be ‘The Lucky Country’ with its National Anthem boasting it has ‘boundless plains to share’. Australia is perceived to be a progressive, multi-cultural nation where anyone is welcome. This is not the case for the asylum seekers that are imprisoned in detention centres both within its borders and offshore. Since September 2012, the Australian Government has sent asylum seekers to Nauru and Papua New Guinea under a policy called 'offshore processing'. This is a policy designed to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by punishing people who have come seeking Australian protection, especially by boat. Since 19 July 2013, the Australian Government’s policy is that none of these people will ever be resettled in Australia, even if they are recognised as legitimate refugees, in direct contravention of the 1952 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. With approximately 240 people imprisoned offshore, 1484 interned in Australian detention centres, hundreds sent back to their home country or transferred to other nations, Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers has been highly criticised by the United Nations and other countries.

A bracelet has been made from MIG welding wire, a product that is commonly used in the building industry. It has been utilised to create a miniature version of barbed wire, a common feature of prisons. The barbed wire is formed into the shape of Australia to indicate its dangerous borders. When worn only two of the spikes keep it on one’s hand, indicating the pain and suffering that these asylum seekers endure.

2021

MIG Welding Wire

15 x 10 x 1 cm

Credits

Katherine Grocott
Text

Katherine Grocott
Photographs