Friday 20 October – Sunday 26 November 2017

I’m very happy to have a portrait I made of my friend Riswan selected for this prize.

In our neighbourhood there are many migrants and refugees living in the community. Some live in limbo on temporary protection visas, trying to make themselves at home in a country which may or may not accept them. Some have already wrested out a reluctant acceptance to stay and are settling in to a new way of life. Some, like my family, have been here a generation and feel more Australian than Dutch.

Riswan is a friend, we serve together at our local Salvation Army drop in centre where he has been faithfully helping out every week for the last 4 years. He is seeking asylum from Sri Lanka, wishing to live in freedom from persecution as a Tamil. He came to the studio to sit for me and we chatted about his journey and his hopes for the future. His application to stay has been rejected but he still appeals in the hope he may be accepted.