Lino print (number 3/30) by Khan Ali Rezaye, of an Afghani tailor shop, executed with brick red/ochre ink on paper.

The print was created by Afghani asylum seeker Khan Ali Rezaye for the exhibition Home, which featured the work of Hazara men living and working in Murray Bridge on Temporary Protection Visas. The exhibition was administered by the Murray Mallee Community Health Service (MMCHS).

When Khan Ali Rezaye fled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to seek asylum in Australia, smugglers arranged his trip, flying to Indonesia and then travelling on a fishing boat which the Australian Navy intercepted. In an oral history interview held at the State Library of SA, he describes detention at Port Hedland, and the stress of his situation after release.

The asylum seekers in Murray Bridge are almost all Hazara men, who fled Afghanistan in haste because their lives were in danger. Most of them are married with children and their families remain in Afghanistan or have since fled to Iran or Pakistan. The Hazara people are an ethnic minority who have traditionally been marginalised and presecuted by other more powerful groups, of which the Taliban was one. (Murray Bridge Soldiers Memorial Hospital: Community Health: Services)

In April 2003 the MMCHS began an emotional and social wellbeing program, including art workshops, for the Afghan asylum seekers that had come to Murray Bridge to work at the local Abattoirs. The program was a response to the very public suicide of a prominent member of this asylum seeking community. The art workshops were also funded by the Rural City of Murray Bridge, Arts SA and Country Arts SA. Many others, residents of Murray Bridge, contributed to the success of the program.

In 2003 the Rural City of Murray Bridge Council declared Murray Bridge to be a Refugee Welcome Zone.

This item is reproduced courtesy of Khan Ali Rezaye. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Khan Ali Rezaye. To request approval, complete the Quote for Copy/Permission form.