Published in Overland Issue 234 Autumn 2019 · Uncategorized Guest artist for Overland 234: Hoda Afshar Hoda Afshar Cover Artist’s Statement – cover Edris – Manus Island (2018) Edris is a Kurdish-Iranian refugee. He arrived at Australia’s shores in 2013 when he was only eighteen, before being sent to Manus Island – to Camp Delta, the harshest of all of Australia’s prison camps, as they call them there. Edris reminded me immediately of my younger brother in Iran. He described to me what being statelessness means, and how his dream of one day having an ID card sent him on this journey. He told me how his detention on Manus had become a nightmare equal to the one that he fled. I asked Edris what he will do with his freedom, if ever that day comes. He went silent, and looked away. Then he shyly replied, ‘I don’t know how freedom feels. I haven’t even seen it in my dreams yet.’ Later, when I returned from Manus and processed the films, this portrait of Edris came out blurry and vague. All that was left on the negative was the trace of his body, and that undreamt dream of his. Artwork for essay ‘That bird is for us’ Artwork for essay ‘Telling the untold stories’ Artwork for essay ‘The fire cult’ Artwork for essay ‘Combat breathing’ Artwork for essay ‘Not all yellow and white’ Artwork for essay ‘State your intentions’ Artwork for essay ‘Aqua Profonda’ Back cover art Read the rest of Overland 234 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Hoda Afshar Hoda Afshar was born in Tehran and is now based in Melbourne. Through her art practice, Hoda explores the nature and possibilities of documentary image-making. Her work has been widely exhibited locally and internationally, and published online and in print. hodaafshar.com More by Hoda Afshar › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 17 January 202517 January 2025 · rape culture Neil Gaiman and the political economy of rape Emmy Rakete The interactions between Gaiman, Palmer, Pavlovich, and the couple’s young child are all outlined in Shapiro’s article. There is, though, another figure in the narrative whom the article does not name. Auckland city itself is a silent participant in the abuse that Pavlovich suffered. Auckland is not just the place where these things happen to have occurred: this is a story about Auckland. 20 December 202420 December 2024 · Reviews Slippery totalities: appendices on oil and politics in Australia and beyond Scott Robinson Kurmelovs writes at this level of confusion and contradiction for an audience whose unspoken but vaguely progressive politics he takes for granted and yet whose assumed knowledge resembles that of an outraged teenager. There should be a young adult genre of political journalism to accommodate books like this.
