Departure

‘Departure’ is a project focused on collecting and sharing stories from a diverse range of migrant community members with the aim that their stories will contribute to larger conversations around immigration and race in Australia.

‘Departure’ is the extension of a collaborative work that artists Christine Ko and Louis Lim created in 2022. That work was an installation of two kites constructed out of waxed paper with printed photographic images from the artists’ own family archives. The symbol of the kite was used to express ideas related to the immigrant experience ‒ flights of joyous and naive child-like wonder and optimism that is simultaneously at the whim of external circumstances; constantly buffeted by the surrounding environment that can sometimes lead to deep disappointment (crash landing).

The artists’ goal was always to develop ‘Departure’ into an ambitious community project involving multiple participants, evolving over an extended period of time. Multiple immigrant participants in each iteration will create kites to form a larger collective installation telling stories about the migrant experience. This is the first instalment of the broader community project.