Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts

Monday, 31 August 2015

"Youngster" Memorial Plaque for Children in Immigration Detention

In May 2015, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Nick Galvin reported a mysterious plaque that had appeared on a Sydney wall. The plaque, on the corner of George and Barrack sts in Sydney's CBD, turns Caroline Rothwell's whimsical sculpture "Youngster" into a memorial for refugee children.
Drawing on language that Australians would have been very familiar with from the ANZAC centenary celebrations just a month before, the plaque begins, "Lest We forget Them."



It continues:
Children seeking asylum in Australia are kept in detention as part of a government policy which inflictc harm on refugees fleeing violence and persecution.
Their suffering is our shame.
Here at this site we remember them and together call out for change. 
The plaque is very small and barely noticeable, yet it is a strong call to all those who pass by the busy corner to call to mind children held in Australia's detention centre. It was installed in the wake of a damning report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, Forgotten Children, released at the end of 2014.  The report's title echoes the 2004 Forgotten Australians Report into the treatment of Australian children in state care.
The sculpture the plaque has attached itself to is a small bronze sculpture of a young person in a hoodie. It stands at about chest height for most adults: a very small person covered by too-big-for-it clothes. Artist Caroline Rothwell was quoted as saying she was honoured her sculpture was being used in this way.
"I agree with the sentiment. Also part of my idea with the work is that these little hooded figures we generally see as a threatening form are actually vulnerable."
The building on which the plaque was attached is owned by the City of Sydney and leased by luxury clothing brand Burberry. So far, the plaque has been allowed to remain.

Questions:

If you know of anyone who was involved in the creation of this plaque, I would love to hear from them. Email ali.phd.map@gmail.com

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Der Rufer (The Caller) dedicated to Victims of Torture

Der Rufer, which means "The Caller" in German, is a bronze sculpture of a calling man who stands in walkway outside the Art Gallery of WA.
For people not familiar with Perth, this area is known as the cultural precinct, and has a lot of pedestrian traffic. Most Perth people would have walked past this sculpture many times, but it was only after I started this project that I stopped to have a closer look, and realised the sculpture was dedicated in 1998 to "Victims and Survivors of Torture."
It seems I'm not the only person who hasn't noticed this dedication. When I've done internet searches about this sculpture, although it is mentioned on a number of sites, very few seem to be aware of the dedication.
The Perth Cultural Centre site mention briefly that the artist was a founding member of the Bauhaus School, and that there is a story that the man is said to be calling "peace".
The City of Perth's Art City flyer describes it like this:
Der Rufer was inspired when the artist was standing beside a man who called across a river to attract the ferryman on the other side. The figure in upright, forceful stance may symbolise the triumph of man’s spirit over oppression and adversity. The few swinging folds in the garment convey a sense of movement.
Neither of these descriptions mentions the dedication to torture victims.
There are at least two other versions of this sculpture. First, the caller appeared outside Radio Bremen in 1967. In this context, the calling man could be understood as a monument to democracy, representing freedom of speech; an important value for Marcks who lived through the Third Reich in Germany and was blacklisted by the Nazi regime.
In early 1989 another copy of Der Rufer was installed in West Berlin. The story goes that this calling man faced east, across the Berlin Wall, which was at that stage still in place. That statue is inscribed with a quote from Italian poet Francesco Petrarch which translates as, "I wander through the world, and cry 'Peace, Peace, Peace." (source: Fotoeins Fotopress.)
Perth’s Caller appeared in 1982, having been donated to the Gallery by CSR Limited. In the mid 1990s, some clients of ASSeTTS, the Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors, expressed a sense of connection with the statue, with the idea of the man calling out. One of the Asetts counsellors decided to pursue this and, with the agreement of the Art Gallery of WA, on the first International Day of Victims of Torture, 26 June 1998, the statue was dedicated to both victims and survivors of torture. A tree was also planted, but was destroyed by vandals. Another tree was planted, but it died.

Questions:

Can this sculpture be understood to be a memorial if no one actually remembers it is?
Is there more to memorialising than engraving a plaque?
Are there still victims of torture among the people of Perth who use this walkway, who see The Caller and take comfort from him?