The Stars That Guide Me A Refreshing Reflection on Growing up Diverse in Australia Izabela Barakovska Tucked away behind the white picket fence and rosebushes of suburban Australia, warm and timeless, lay my Baba and Dedo’s home. The two-tone colouring wrapped around the red brick facade of the seventies architecture, casting a simple backdrop to the cluster of olive trees in the front yard. By following the cream-tiled road of the veranda to the front door, one would meet a kaleidoscopic vision of glazed green and yellow glass. This sat adjacent to a plastic doorbell that was as incongruous and temperamental as my grandfather’s home renovation pursuits. Behind the home was a backyard that did our European heritage justice. It was on a hilltop, blessed with old-school corrugated iron, glass tables and matching mesh chairs that hosted weekend suppers and memorable conversations. This set-up faced the green and orange swing set my cousins and I loved. At the apex of a swing, one could look beyond the intertwined grapevines of white and red, onto a patch of Dolce & Gabbana coloured foods and a rotating clothesline of pastels and prints. In contrast were my grandfather’s monochromatic wardrobe choices that 24
helped him - a painter by trade - blend into the patterns of Australian working life. The bafcha - a blanket term for the garden, which was half the size of the block and fed my grandparents’ souls and time – and, of course, my insatiable stomach - was filled to the brim with red, green and yellow capsicums, tomatoes, mandarins, apricots, onion, garlic, grapes and lemons. It was accented with bundles of parsley, mint, and basil, and dried, roasted red peppers strung up on every conceivable corner of the red brick façade, lighting up the area like a runway to Saint Nik at Christmas time. The path led to the most non-mundane of pet projects: my grandparents’ prize pigeons. I remember Dedo whenever I see one in mid-flight. The house was a home to our family, ethnicity and culture. Similar to the form of my favourite childhood dish, kifli – filo pastry wrapped into a spiral, filled with feta cheese, and topped with sesame seeds – it was what (and who) was inside the home that counted the most.
The Guild Designer, Xander, has arcane powers.
