Overview

Abdul Karim Hekmat and Tim O’Connor discuss the impacts of Australia’s approach to people seeking asylum, exploring the current policy settings and sharing the personal experience of seeking asylum, enduring and surviving Australian immigration detention.

Abdul Karim Hekmat is freelance journalist and photographer. He arrived as a refugee from Afghanistan in 2001 and spent five months in detention in Australia. Since graduating with honours from UTS under a temporary protection visa scheme, Abdul has written for many media outlets in Australia about refugees and asylum seekers. In 2012, he was awarded UTS Alumni Community Award and was recognised as a Refugee Ambassador in 2013. He is a board member of Refugee Council of Australia.

Tim O’Connor works at the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), the peak body for organisations working with and for refugees and people seeking asylum. RCOA is a not-for-profit organisation and relies on public financial support to continue its vital work in research, education and advocacy.

This event is a part of the Not Evenly Distributed series for the 20th Biennale of Sydney, conceived as an opportunity for a timely international discussion about the uneven spread of technologies and resources in the world, access to citizenship and political rights today, and the uses and effects of digital technologies in different geographical, political and social contexts. The series at Artspace has been made possible with assistance from UNSW Art & Design.