A new exhibition called Home has opened at the Art Container in Memorial Park at The Entrance.
The collaborative project marks Refugee Week which was June 20 to 26 and showcases the diverse voices of the migrant community.
The exhibition is open until July 6 and brings together the works of two projects, 2019’s PhotoVoices and 2021’s Yaama Ngura and shares powerful stories of refugees, new arrivals and established migrant communities that call the Central Coast home.
PhotoVoices is a partnership project between South African born, Coast based photographer, Hilda Bezuidenhout, and Northern Settlement Project, a service that promotes social inclusion and diversity.
Yaama Ngura is a special welcoming project in collaboration with Local Elder, Uncle Gavi Duncan, Bezuidenhout, and writer, Mel Harwin.
These stories share experiences of adversity, strength, and cultural diversity, creating a place which is inclusive and welcoming to everyone in our community.
If These Walls Could Talk is an online multicultural project that is also celebrating and showcasing the culturally diverse businesses here on the Coast.
This project focuses on business owners from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds in The Entrance and Woy Woy and gives them an opportunity to share their origin stories and how they started their businesses.
Featured business owners include Robbie who comes from Bangladesh and owns the Mexican restaurant, Los Dos Hombres and the café next door, Café Escape, as well as the iconic Franks Pizza.
Other featured business owner include Kenny from Vietnam, who runs Saigan Chopsticks, Sean from South Africa who owns The Entrance Lake House and Tuk from Thailand who runs Satang Thai Café and Restaurant.
Kenny from Saigan Chopsticks said in his interview that in The Entrance there are plenty of opportunities to experience many different cultures through food.
“We have Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian and Lebanese.
“Food is our pride and our identity,” Kenny said.
If These Walls Could Talk was created by Central Coast Council and can be viewed online.
The theme for Refugee Week 2021 is Unity, with the aim being to highlight aspects of the refugee experience and help the broader community to understand what it is like to be a refugee.
It also promotes harmony and togetherness with the theme uniting individuals, communities and organisations from many different backgrounds to remind everyone that regardless of our differences, we all share a common humanity.
Harry Mulholland