Migration is always a heated topic, with supporters and opponents from every side of the political spectrum as well as from people from all walks of life. Supporters of migration advocate the increased economic productivity brought about by migrants, whilst opponents point out that migrants are bad for social cohesion based on ill-founded fears that migrants want to take over and destroy the Australian way of life and culture. It is my opinion that the rhetoric from both sides is one-dimensional as both sides fail to see migrants simply as human beings with feelings, desires, goals, hobbies – just like any other Australian. From my own experience, since I arrived in Australia 17 years ago as a skilled migrant, I have not experienced any overt racism and have been accepted in all of my places of work. However, I still feel that making friendships with locals is almost an impossible task, whereas for other migrants it all just seems to flow and happen organically. In this project I wanted to create portraits of migrants and their families, to present them as the humans they are – with passions, hobbies, and jobs, just like everyone else from anywhere in the world. These migrants are people from my work, the local community and family members.

Migrant, 2021  

photography  

841 x 594 x 1 mm