Som Chai meets my family & friends
I am so excited that Som Chai is now in Oz and has been granted a partner visa.
He's met my family and friends, and even come along to Uni with me.
It is wonderful having him here with me - no more lonely nights or awkward outings on my own!
I can throw my wish list in the fire now because he fulfils all my dreams. I am so proud of him - he is charismatic, generous and kind, and he is also Budhist and a meditator!
I wondered whether there was a difference between art made by a human and art made by a machine? So I made a fan that painted, and I became a painting human fan.
Conclusion: there was no difference.
Just an Ordinary Peasant is based on my uncle’s experience as an inmate at Treblinka extermination camp in 1944. His memoir recounts that while being forced to carry corpses from the gas chambers to an open-air pyre, he was handed a sack which held little children who were still alive. The guard commanded the sack be thrown into the fire. The woman I play in Just an Ordinary Peasant is a hybrid character created from the memoirs of my uncle, my parents and my own research. She sings and dances and also throws a sack of babies into the fire. This piece explores my own biases as well as questions the culpability of ‘ordinary people’ who were accomplices to the atrocities carried out during the Third Reich.
Miss World Peace
in Melbourne
"History never repeats, but sometimes it rhymes."
-Mark Twain
Demonstrations affiliated with ‘Boycott Apartheid Israel week’ are regularly held in Melbourne town. The streets are full of University students and others, chanting vitriolic messages such as:
‘Is-ra-el and the USA,
How many kids did you kill today?’
I often attended these protests carrying two flags – the Palestinian and the Israeli one. My message is as naïve as the character I define – namely, to convey a hope that these two conflicting groups might be able to talk and listen to each other, with the ultimate goal, one day, of ‘peace’.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to talk with anyone. The Israeli flag I was holding was ripped up by one of the protesters.
Fast forward 10 years - 9.5.2024.
Since Hamas’s vicious attack on Israeli citizens on 7.10.23, the world has spewed hatred towards Israel and Jews. University campuses throughout the West - the USA, Europe and Australia - have morphed into pro Hamas hot spots riddled with poisonous rhetoric. Jewish students have to hide their identity and no longer feel safe. Signs like ‘Zionists don’t deserve to live’ and ‘You are Hamas’s next targets’ are commonplace.
Jew hate is becoming normalised. It is no longer a bad memory - a nightmare from the past.
Today levels of anti Semitism are off the charts. I've never felt less safe here in Australia.
I am scared to attend these anti Israel/Zionist/Jew rallies held every Sunday in Melbourne city. 10 years ago I used to attend as many as I could as Miss World Peace.
Yes they were scary then too, and I prayed I wouldn’t get a knife in my back.
But what was (and still is the most confronting) is seeing people’s faces distorted with hatred towards me - calling me a ‘f…Zionist’ because I also carried the Israeli flag. There was no-one to talk with, no chance for dialogue, only slogans, chanting and screaming rhetoric.
Today the rallies are way bigger and way scarier - the hatred is palpable. They are h
What do we do with all this?
I think that now, more than ever, we need to try and pursue peace - somehow, someway.
Maybe it’s still possible to repair the fractures for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike? And a better future for the rest of us.
Because, while it might start with the Jews, it never ends with the Jews
Trying to be BraveState Library, Melbourne | The rally begins; I feel the scowlsAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne |
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Struggling against the crowdAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne, 2013 | Raising the sign: 'Palestinians, Israelis, We Love You' was all I could doAnti-Israel rally, Bourke st. Melbourne |
Plonk between the Police and ProtestorsAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne | Working together to find a way...Rally, Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem |
Anti-Israel rally, Melbourne city, 2014An Eye for an Eye makes the Whole World Blind | Oh oh, there goes the Israeli flagAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne |
I Had a DreamAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne City Centre | The Dream is DyingAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne City Centre |
Coming Out as Miss World PeaceFirst time in the City | ‘Women in Black’ protestComing Out as Miss World Peace |
'Fuck off you racist Zionist!' he sneeredAnti-Israel rally, Spring st. Melbourne, 2012 | I instructed Mum to record the event, but she held the camera upside downAnti-Israel rally, Spring st. Melbourne, 2012 |
Trying to stay calmAnti-Israel rally, Melbourne | 'Miss World Peace incites violence'Screen Shot of video |
'We can make it Work Together'From video: 'Miss World Peace incites violence' | 'Miss World Peace incites violence'Screen Shot from video |
Scary Shit'Miss World Peace incites violence' | This must mean something??Missed World Peace |