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 First published in Overland Issue 228 27 September 2023 · Sport When the sport circus comes on Country Jenny Fraser The next huckster in the carnival of sport is the upcoming 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. If we want aspects of it to be in line with Aboriginal protocol, we need action from across the four winds of the world. If it’s not done right we need solidarity and protest just the same. We are each other’s safety net in this theatre of sport. As a senior Aboriginal woman activist once told me, ‘we are all only as good as we negotiate’. First published in Overland Issue 228 25 September 202326 September 2023 · The university Solidarity but only among managers, or the future of the university sector Hannah Forsyth The process continued during Covid. Jobs were being cut due to the threats posed by the pandemic, yet more scholars were being recruited. Nice people, good at their job. But why are we doing this, we kept asking. Management kept telling us we have a funding crisis (which often turned to a surplus in the end), so why are we also on a hiring spree? All along it looked like it could end badly, for all of us.
