SETHULI RAJAPAKSE

Hung out to dry, 2022

recycled paper, organza fabric and wood installation 2650 x 44 x 120 cm

This work comments on the significant barriers experienced by immigrants, particularly focusing on the qualifications of many migrants which are invalid in Australia. With consideration to this, I replicated my family’s documents and displayed them in a filing aesthetic, conveying how the rejected qualifications of migrants remain shrouded in dust. Using tea bags and recycled paper, I appropriated personal documentation through a solvent transfer method. Identity from the documentation was redacted through mark-making, embroidery, and shading. The use of tea and thread was symbolic as they have cultural and economic significance to my family’s place of origin, Sri Lanka.