About the exhibition
What motivates people to pack their cases and bags – pack up their lives and move to a foreign country? Why do we leave behind all that is known to us – our home, our families and friends, to start anew . . . and what happens then? How does the new country welcome us, how do we integrate and get used to a new set of rules, a different political and judicial system, a country where cars drive on the 'wrong' side of the road – and where a different language is spoken?
And what is our contribution to this “multicultural” society, how much of our culture and our traditions do we introduce to our host nation – and how does it all fit together and become our experience?
It started with a book, Ein bisschen Heimat im Gepäck (ihleo verlag, Husum, 2014), by Sabine Nielsen, telling the life stories of migrants who arrived here between 1935 and 1956 – refugees, displaced or persecuted people, adventurers and those who sought to start a new life. In the meantime, the books is available in English with the title Memories in my Luggage. Even today, their stories resonate in the minds of those recently arrived – or they help those, who feel overwhelmed by a tide of refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants, to a better understanding.
The German photographer Eva Maria Rugel took the portraits of the migrants represented in the book. These portraits were so impressive, it seemed a shame to “hide” them between the pages of a book, and Sabine Nielsen and Eva Maria Rugel decided to work together with Melbourne designer, David Wong, and prepare an exhibition under the auspice of the Australian-German Welfare Society and the sponsorship of Henkell Brothers Australia and with a grant from the Victorian Multicultural Commission.
The exhibition shows photographs and texts, a digital presentation, information about organisations that assist migrants and memorabilia, which highlight the experience of migration. Together with the exhibitions, we offer a series of talks, lectures, forums, musical and culinary events. Watch this space!
And what is our contribution to this “multicultural” society, how much of our culture and our traditions do we introduce to our host nation – and how does it all fit together and become our experience?
It started with a book, Ein bisschen Heimat im Gepäck (ihleo verlag, Husum, 2014), by Sabine Nielsen, telling the life stories of migrants who arrived here between 1935 and 1956 – refugees, displaced or persecuted people, adventurers and those who sought to start a new life. In the meantime, the books is available in English with the title Memories in my Luggage. Even today, their stories resonate in the minds of those recently arrived – or they help those, who feel overwhelmed by a tide of refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants, to a better understanding.
The German photographer Eva Maria Rugel took the portraits of the migrants represented in the book. These portraits were so impressive, it seemed a shame to “hide” them between the pages of a book, and Sabine Nielsen and Eva Maria Rugel decided to work together with Melbourne designer, David Wong, and prepare an exhibition under the auspice of the Australian-German Welfare Society and the sponsorship of Henkell Brothers Australia and with a grant from the Victorian Multicultural Commission.
The exhibition shows photographs and texts, a digital presentation, information about organisations that assist migrants and memorabilia, which highlight the experience of migration. Together with the exhibitions, we offer a series of talks, lectures, forums, musical and culinary events. Watch this space!
Exhibition dates
During 2015, the exhibition Memories in my Luggage traveled around Melbourne and country Victoria:
Grovedale Neighbourhoood House, Geelong 1 October to 20 November 2015 Osborne House and Diversitat, Geelong 4 to 25 September 2015 Tabulam and Templer Homes, Bayswater 2 to 31 July 2015 Chapel on Station, Box Hill 11 to 24 June 2015 Goethe Institut, Melbourne 17 April to 29 May 2015 Brighton Library 5 to 26 March 2015 Glen Waverley Library 5 to 27 February 2015 Bonegilla Migrant Experience 19 December 2014 to 25 January 2015 |
