Migration as Art

This exhibition will open a space for critical investigation and dialogue into the subject of migration and the role of visual arts practice being incorporated into this discourse. The exhibition will investigate an archive of visual art from 1990-2010, the close of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first century by Australian artist Stephen Copland.

This exhibition demonstrates a mobility of art practice where as a consequence of the investigation of travel and migration, three series of interdisciplinary works united by the subject of human movement (forced and unforced) separated by time and the sociological shifts during that time and space.

In an era of global mobility and border debates Copland’s art contributes to the symbolic and subjective aspects of identities in transit and offers audiences new interpretations and insights into their own migrations and experiences.

The archive represents two decades of visual art interpreting themes of migration: migration for family reunion, the migration of asylum seekers and a personal migration for work as a single continuous body of work. The focus of the archive is revealing how artists can contribute to the ongoing debate around migration and human rights through art.

• The Migration Series (1992-2002) Heritage and identity
• Raft-The Drifting Border (2004-2014) Seeking asylum
• Transit (2007-2013) Migration for work

Background

“The Migration Series” (1992-2002) describes the discovery of my Cuban grandmother’s diary that led to a decade of national and international exhibitions into heritage and identity. The second series, “Raft-The Drifting Border” (2004-2012) is an ongoing body of art interpreting the darker side of migration and refugees seeking asylum in Australia. The third series titled, “Transit” (2007-2013) is a series of artworks that interprets the symbolic and subjective aspects of identities in transit in a globalised world. The archive develops a narrative between personal stories, identity and political observations over two decades.