Assembly of the Invisible8AM
: Monday October 15, 2001 The Department of Immigration in Melbourne will open to a sea of chairs this Monday. The assembly of the invisible, initiated by No One is Illegal, will consist of hundreds of empty chairs each bearing a story of an asylum seeker. Following the assembly the chairs will be distributed throughout the streets and paths of the CBD, a temporary reminder to the citizens of Melbourne of the existence of those made invisible. Kylie Wilkinson Melbourne artist and spokesperson for No One Is Illegal said today, "If people are made invisible it is like they do not exist and their stories are lost." ""People come here with the right to seek asylum, but instead they are imprisoned on ships, in desert camps, and internment jails in Indonesia and Nauru. "We have invited people to come and place a chair bearing a story of the invisible in a place in Melbourne where it cannot be ignored." "We can't see the new migrants. Our lack of vision creates borders. What would happen if they were visible? Because they are invisible the racist scapegoating gains currency. Because they are invisible stories are missing."
"Those who migrate have no seat, no power but their determination to move and survive. What would happen if they were present in the chambers that decided their destiny; if they could walk the streets of Melbourne? Global citizens, present, in front of us." "Could they then be blamed for Australia's unemployment, crime, terrorism and the extraordinary costs of their own enclosure? What would Australia be like if the possibility for this level of accountability arrived?" "How can we make the invisible appear? What would we be like?" |