BY KERRIE BARRON
CANBERRA After artwork depicting the plight of children living in detention was removed from a library, the Refugee Action Committee (RAC) has been overwhelmed by offers of support and interest in the display.
RAC coordinator Claire Bruhn, one of the creators of the display, said she received phone calls from all over Australia, even one from Papua New Guinea, giving RAC support and arguing the library should have refused to take down the display. (It was removed because staff were abused by library visitors.)
At the request of the Australian Choreographic Centre the display has now been assembled in the foyer of the Canberra Theatre and has met with a favourable response.
The display, a mocked-up detention centre, features artwork made by ACT school students and newspaper clippings as well as thousands of pages of information about the effects of detention on children. It can be viewed at the ACT Legislative Assembly this week. Rural Australians for Refugees will use the display at an October Festival in Brisbane, and Queensland Amnesty International will use the display during the September School Project. From there it will go to the Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen group festival in October, then return for the Austcare Refugee Week in Garema Place, Canberra which begins on October 11.
From Green Left Weekly, August 21, 2002.
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