A journey with a powerful message

Mohammed Alanezi, a talented artist and SSI client seeking refuge in Australia, is one of those asylum seekers accompanying theatre-goers on this journey.

Partnering with Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and Performance Space, APE has produced a large-scale, multi-lingual, mobile performance project that probes asylum seeker issues through the eyes of the witnesses to their story: ordinary people in Indonesia and the asylum seekers themselves.

Ms Sussman said the show had grown and changed over the last five years but the most important thing to her was that the artists were represented the way they wanted.

“The show has been a two-way process, with all material coming from the artists themselves,” Ms Sussman said.

“I wanted to explore a contemporary social issue and I’ve put together their work in a way that they feel comfortable with.”

Mr Alanezi works across a diverse range of fields, including photography, graphic design, musical design for theatre and script writing.

Ms Sussman met Mr Alanezi at the SSI Art is Our Voice exhibition in May 2014, in which he was exhibiting his photography.

Ms Sussman invited Mr Alanezi to be a part of Origin-Transit-Destination by documenting the show on film but as they worked more closely together, Mr Alanezi began to share the story of his journey to Australia and Ms Sussman saw the power and value of his story.

He is now one of the ‘tour guides’ in the Transit section of the show, sharing his story on the bus that takes show participants from Auburn to Casula.

Event details:

Title: Origin-Transit-Destination

Date: March 10-14, 2015

Time: 6.30pm start at Auburn

Find out more here.