Eora and Amnesty bring art to Leichhardt

Amnesty International has joined forces with Eora College, for the 2012 Demand Dignity campaign. The upcoming art exhibition will raise awareness for Indigenous and Aboriginal rights in Australia.

A spokesperson from the NSW Demand Dignity Action Group said: “the main theme for this exhibition was the idea of togetherness and of people coming together. This theme was something that was inspired by theartists themselves. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Boomalli Gallery, Eora College and Amnesty’s Demand Dignity Group and this collaboration mirrors the theme”

Ceramics, painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture will be on display from July 18 to July 29 at Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery in Leichhardt, with most artworks up for sale.

Eora College teacher Chico Monks, who organised the exhibition, said: “We have been working with ideas out of the easy to read handbook on this declaration that Amnesty compiled, using themes such as housing, homelands. This year we are working on our ongoing relationship and similarities.”

Eora College is one of seven Sydney institute colleges, founded by Aboriginal playwright, director and screenwriter Robert Merritt.
The Abercrombie St space was opened in September 1993 as a specialist art centre catering for Aboriginals, Torres Strait Islanders and the wider community.

Mr Monks said, “Eora college and Amnesty International’s demand dignity group have been working together for the last three years
making people more aware of the United Nations declaration on rights of Indigenous people in specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.”

Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at Eora College have lived an urban lifestyle and have witnessed the growth and change of the Redfern area.

The campaign is based on the notion that everybody, no matter who or where they are in the world, has the right to an adequate standard of living.

British lawyer Peter Benenson gave life to Amnesty International in 1961, following an article he wrote for the UK Observer. In the article Mr Benson described his outrage towards the global trend of people being imprisoned, tortured or executed because their political views or religious orientation were unacceptable to their governments.

Amnesty now has over 100,000 members in Australia, and 3 million around the world.