August 2010
10 posts
Creative Cultures - an engaging exhibition
by Saad Al Musawi
An exhibition showing artists from different ethnicities was held between the 3rd and the 31st of July. The Creative Cultures exhibition is run every year directly after Refugee Week by Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre (SMRC).
The 16 artists exhibited this year represented cultural backgrounds including Sudanese, Congolese, Thai, Irish, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Libyan, Iraqi,...
A conversation about stars, imagination and the...
Nyadol:
Conventional knowledge is the enemy of imagination. It limits out ability to think beyond the ‘status quo‘.
Nyabana (Bern):
I do believe though that we are in a knowledge age where it is widely accepted and expected that improvements be made on current C.K. I think we can tell from the number of PhD candidates graduating from many institutions each semester.
Challenging and coming up...
After Hours Fashion With A Conscience
by Kat Moore
Melbourne Central’s Level 1 Bridge was aglow after hours on Friday 16th of July, as The Social Studio presented a fashion parade showcasing their first collection, TSS1.
Using only recycled and surplus materials, the Social Studio’s young trainees have created an original collection, which made its debut at the RISE Festival in May this year.
Usually well known as a consumer’s...
Community Gardens A Personal Experience
by Concetta Tahir
I first moved into the Richmond high rise thirty years ago. I lived on the 15th floor; I had never lived up that high before. I didn’t want to live there. It was a very rough environment. Concrete, hard, racist, cold. I felt my personal space was threatened, being in the lift so close to all sorts of people. The state of my health at the time compounded all these issues and...
Refugees of Yarra still face discouraging facts...
by Mia Paramashinta
Australian residents who have come here as refugees or asylum seekers, and have good English and local qualifications, have no guarantee of employment. In fact, often it is not easy to gain permanent employment that matches their professional skills.
Boy and Majak, two young gentlemen from Sudan who came to Australia under the Humanitarian Visa are facing what has become a...
Racism - be informed not afraid
by Nyadol Nyuon
Racism can make one feel insignificant in a society that is dominated by the ‘other’. But we are all the ‘other’. And that is the problem.
Recently in Melbourne when I tried to board a tram, my bag got stuck at the doorway. A man covered with tattoos came and helped me pull my bag up and carried it to an empty seat. Normally, if I had met him when I was alone, I would have...
Starting Life Over From Zero
by Anna Tuong
My name is Anna Tuong. This is my story of escape from Vietnam.
I was born in Vietnam (South Saigon). I am from an educated, middle class family. I am one of 11 children and I am in the middle. When I was 17 I started studying dental nursing and I worked for my father who is a dentist.
In 1975, I will never forget it. In South Vietnam, soldiers with weapons tried to protect the...
Trams
by Concetta Tahir
Clunkering Mechanics on Wheels
Portable lounge
With a view for travelling
Airy Ambience
Talk or Not
Up and down
Stop again
The motion goes on
Pattern Unbroken
Green facade leading
Settled high presiding
Unspoken Conformity
Bow to the Rule
...
Musicians and models rise to the occasion for the...
by Michael Hackett
It was late autumn in the city, the usual tourists and visitors from across the globe are watching the luminous big screen, with images and cameras flashing, kids with their parents taking time to soak up the evening air. Looking around inside the BMW Edge Theatre at Federation Square, there are stalls for books with what looks like their authors promoting their products to...
yarraReporter Trainees - On Track To Graduate
by Majak Akot
yarraReporter is an intensive program that trains City of Yarra public housing residents in multimedia and journalism, with the current cadets preparing to graduate.
The yarraReporter is located in Atherton Gardens and is known to many people to provide a broad accessible introduction to the world of journalism. For every eight week training course yarraReporter provides an...
July 2010
3 posts
8 tags
A pedal powered fashion parade
The Social Studio | No Fixed Address
Pedal powered retail platform & exhibition State of Design Festival 14 - 24 July
Level 1 Bridge, above Lonsdale St, Melbourne Central The Social studio fashion parade 6.30pm Friday 16th July
More info >
6 tags
June 2010
10 posts
2 tags
Kala Kala Amrika [no, no to America]
SenderZEN
Democracy is a lie. It is a word that rich people use, to hide behind. From us to hide their fear. Of us the people. The un-rich. The many. The most. The majority. The poor democracy is how rich people get their own way. Every time. Their
downsizing, their stock markets, their walls and lies and management. Their jargon of hate and control. Their police. Their religion. Their terror...
3 tags
Totem animals and shadow play for upcoming...
Kealey Nutt
yarraReporter.org.au
The 2010 Gertrude Street Projection Festival is drawing near with feature artist Kit Webster surely working on an unforgettable digital projection and last year’s feature artist, Yandell Walton developing two new community focused projects.
For Walton, being selected as the feature artist for the Projection Festival in 2009 was a very worthwhile moment in her...
4 tags
Future outdoor cinema events on the cards
Shirley Danford and Kat Moore
www.yarrareporter.org.au
Some snuggled up in rugs while kids ran around the Atherton Gardens oval as it came alive when the Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema brought people together from within and outside the estate back in March.
After much deliberation, the chosen film that was screened on the night was ‘Bend it like Beckham’.
Event organiser Marion Singer felt that...
Some words from a few graduates of The Social...
Meselech Kelelew
“I’m from Ethiopia. I enjoyed meeting different people in the shop, and students sharing what we do, learning from each other - one might have an idea and share it… The whole Social Studio is really nice. My favourite piece was a skirt and top with a long tail, in a red colour, cherry red, really bright. I kept it, because that was my first job, it took me two weeks. It was...
1 tag
Students sew their way to a certificate at The...
Hannah Colman
Nine students have just completed Certificate II in Clothing Production at The Social Studio, in Smith St, Collingwood.
This is the first group to graduate from the RMIT School of Fashion course via The Social Studio, which launched its label in December 2009.
Anna Loughnane has been teaching students at The Social Studio over the course of their certificates. So, what’s next...
5 tags
Local Events in Fitzroy
Emerge Festival Celebrating the contributions made to the cultural life of Melbourne by our most recently arrived communities.
Sunday 20th June 12-5pm
Fitzroy Town Hall: 201 Napier Street, Fitzroy and surrounds.
Film
Screening of “Silent Cry” a student documentary about the Ogaden Genocide in Africa. A compelling, gut-wrenching and extremely significant film.
Friday the 25th June...
1 tag
Horrific Non Balance - treatment in stolen land
Ramesh Fernandez
If you were faced with this choice, you would get on a boat too….
Many politicians and so called experts have weighed into the debate about what drives people to leave their homes and risk their lives on a boat.
But the voices of the affected communities have not been heard.
RISE is an organisation set up by survivors of war, border crossings and immigration...
4 tags
World Refugee Day RALLY
End the freeze on asylum seeker claims
Where: State Library, Cnr Latrobe & Swanston Sts, City When: Sunday 20th June - 12:00pm Seeking asylum is not a crime and it is a right that is held up by the laws of this land as well as the UN refugee convention that our country has pledged to support. Yet successive Australian governments in recent times have begun to fundamentally disregard...
6 tags
Watch
Check out this great video put together by RISE and then join us at the World Refugee Day Rally.
Where: State Library, Cnr Latrobe & Swanston Sts, City When: Sunday 20th June 2010 - 12:00pm
May 2010
3 posts
6 tags
The Black Papa’s are West Papuan group...
9 tags
WatchSneak peak at The Social Studio Collection 01 filmed at the RISE Festival. thesocialstudio.org MUSIC: SIA Clap Your Hands (Diplo Remix)
RISE Festival
RISE (Refugees, Survivors and ex-detainees) Festival today at BMW Edge, Fed Square. 3-6pm kicking off with a fashion parade by The Social Studio.
more details here http://riserefugee.org/
April 2010
10 posts
“The ability to understand… the ability to put yourself in somebody...”
– Julian Burnside
"Refugee Syndrome" →
“Six months in the making, The Refugee Syndrome is a 2010 Digital Media Master’s Thesis done by Lim Wui Liang and Nikolia Apostolou at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.”
2 tags
‘Silent Cry’ Victims of Ogaden Genocide
by Michael Hackett and Anya Trybala
yarraReporter.org.au
British University students have uncovered the horrors of Ogaden, Africa, almost by accident.
“Silent Cry” the grassroots documentary production by students Abdallah Abdi, Ahmed Abdalle, and Abdi-Shukri Omar shows a harrowing portrayal of the victims from the Ogaden region.
It was screened earlier this year at Melbourne University...
1 tag
6 tags
Random search leads the way for ‘random’...
by Ramesh Fernandez and Nawal Ali
The State government is in the process of passing laws that will give Victorian Police unchecked powers to strip search, arrest and detain ordinary Australians. Individuals can also be asked to ‘move on’ in public spaces without due cause. The proposed legislation will violate a host of human rights and is not considered valid under the Victorian Equal...
5 tags
Second edition hot off the press
*bespoken second edition is now in print. Keep an eye out or pick one up at The Social Studio, 128 Smith St Collingwood.
bespoken is a bi-monthly fashion, design and news publication, and an initiative of the local community in Melbourne.
bespoken seeks to create a new outlet for the voices of local residents who may not have had the opportunity to contribute in mainstream media.
It encourages...
4 tags
My Name Is
By Francis Anjong
My name is Francis Anjong. I’m from Sudan. I came to Australia in 2005. My life in Sudan was so hard because of the civil war that we had in the South and the North of Sudan. I was sad because there were lots of people dead in the war.
In my education in Sudan, I started in Primary School and finished in grade 6. It was hard for me to study and live there. The Australian...
2 tags
Diagnosis, Denial, Acceptance. Living with HIV
by Steven Gibson
I moved to Melbourne in 1995 in order to have a blood test. I was 99.9% sure I was HIV positive after a series of events, that gave me cause for concern – I just needed a blood test to confirm.
For me, there where four definite stages: Diagnosis, Denial, Acceptance and finally, Living with my HIV.
Diagnosis was only going to prove what I suspected, but still it is a big...
Sneak preview of The Social Studio special feature... →
March 2010
3 posts
Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema TONIGHT
Bend it Like Beckham will be screening at the premier Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema session, as well as short films made by the young people of Fitzroy.
Located at the Atherton Gardens Oval, the screen will bring residents from the Fitzroy housing estate and the wider community together for an evening of entertainment under the stars.
While waiting for the sun to go down, there will be circus...
6 tags
The Social Studio Hunter Gatherer Collaboration
The Social Studio and Hunter Gatherer street party and fashion parade.
Friday 12th March at 274 Brunswick St Fitzroy.
Lots more images at The Social Studio »
Photo’s Raphael Kilpatrick
8 tags
Roll up, roll up!
*bespoken is now in print. With 5000 copies floating around Australia you might just come across one. Keep an eye out or pick one up at The Social Studio, 128 Smith St Collingwood.
February 2010
6 posts
Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema lights up in March
On Saturday the 20th of March the Atherton Gardens oval on Napier street will come alive with big screen entertainment, circus, music, and food for The Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema. Bring a rug and a pillow and come along and watch locally made short films and a feature film. Before the film, cinema-goers will be treated to a circus performance under the stars.
The aim of the Fitzroy Outdoor Cinema...
6 tags
Making music to find an identity
By Akech Manyiel, yarraReporter.org.au Photo - Asiah by Andrew Wuttke
Contemporary music is being used as a tool for young Sudanese artists to help find their identity and challenge the past.
Manyang Beriberi, one of the organisers of the Sudanese Talent Show that happens in Melbourne every December says that “The young artists sing in English, they break from their older counterparts who...
8 tags
100 days: Still no resolution for Tamil Asylum...
January 18, 2010 marked 100 days since the 255 Tamil asylum seekers, escaping civil war in Sri Lanka, have been moored at Merak in Indonesia, afraid that if they disembark, they will be sent back to their war-torn country.
A protest was held at the State library in Melbourne on this date, with similar demonstrations held around the world, to mark the 100 days and to demand that the Tamil asylum...
2 tags
No one like you
A poem by Nicole Kuol
There is no friend is a friend like you
I brought your teary eyes to dry
When I cry, I find nobody deeply cries with me
But with you, every tear I shed is right there in your palm
Like the last pearl of precious pearl on earth
Like brown leaves of the summer time
I get fragile and broken into tiny pieces
But I got you to fix my fragments together
And I don’t care if...
1 tag
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bespoken first edition
bespoken is a bi-monthly fashion, design and news publication, and an initiative of the local community in melbourne.
bespoken seeks to create a new outlet for the voices of local residents who may not have had the opportunity to contribute in mainstream media.
It encourages creativity, honesty, critique, journalism of substance and great design. Each issue highlights local fashion, design, and...