YOU ARE INVITED TO CELEBRATE AWARD WINNING ARTIST AUNTY PETA LINK'S EXHIBITION "NYUGAR WAYBARE - FINDING HOME"

WHEN

10am - 8pm

26-27 November 2022

WHERE UNSEEN

Arts Hub, Centenary Square, Parramatta

AUNTY PETA LINK

"My art is my healing, I can express the unspoken, the unseen that are in the complexities of trauma, that both my children and I have endured. Art brings me love, art brings me hope, art brings me faith. Art keeps me connected. My paintings are a representation of my experience of homelessness, when my daughter was sexually assaulted. We had to flee the community, and leave our home. Some doors were “open “ but I felt, they didn’t really want to let us there! I’m lost, I feel broken, but I know I have to keep going for me and my family.The moon is the highest point of emotional turmoil. The rain is many tears that I cried, that my babies cried, and my old people cried for us. The home is our new found sanctuary. We are still slipping back and forth into emotionally dark places and still trying to find our inner peace. I ask myself which way is home? I seek guidance, I seek stability, I seek safety. My life has been disrupted, I have been displaced. Refuges and homes take care of our immediate need of shelter, but dealing with the emotional damage of why we were homeless in the first place is the aftermath." - Aunty Peta

First Nations people are 3.2% of the Australian population yet are 27% of those using homelessness services, with twice as many adult women as adult men using services. Severe shortages of crisis and long-term housing, especially in regional and remote areas, mean these women and their children are routinely turned away, are unable to access help and may have no option but to return to an unsafe situation. Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people occurs at structural, institutional and interpersonal levels, and Indigenous women and girls report that the intergenerational impacts of trauma are inseparable from harmful and violent behaviour. If the housing crisis is not addressed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women will be left marginalised and disempowered, perpetuating vicious cycles of violence, abuse and homelessness.

WHY AN UNSEEN ARTS HUB?

Highly visible and innovative, the UNSEEN Arts Hub uses art’s unique power of arousing curiosity to generate a safe space within communities to raise public awareness of the complex and unexpected circumstances leading to women’s hidden homelessness. The UNSEEN Arts Hub challenges dehumanising attitudes and misconceptions that promote the negative stereotypes, fear and stigma so often associated with women who experience housing insecurity and homelessness in our communities These stereotypes often translate into not-in-my-back-yard approaches to social and affordable housing. Instead, the UNSEEN Arts Hub generates tolerance and understanding of the causes of women’s homelessness and the pathways needed to secure safe and adequate housing for women at risk. For homelessness to end, change must happen in the hearts and minds of all Australians before policy can reflect much-needed social change.

WHAT IS WOMEN'S HIDDEN HOMELESSNESS?

In Australia, over 50,000 women are experiencing homelessness, mainly caused by domestic violence and financial abuse. While some 400,000 women over 45 are estimated to be at risk of homelessness, fear and stigma causes many to avoid support services and remain in violent situations. Others stay in temporary or overcrowded accommodation, or sleep in their car or concealed places. Older women are the fastest-growing cohort experiencing homelessness, and 400,000 women over 45 are currently estimated to be at risk. Without the opportunity to learn from those with lived experience, the diversity and scale of women’s housing insecurity and homelessness will continue to be underestimated, making the future increasingly bleak for young women.The UNSEEN Arts Hub makes visible the narratives of these women through the power of art and face-to-face engagement with the public.

Thank you to the City of Parramatta, Bonnie Support Services, Western Sydney University and Museum of Understanding Through Tolerance and Inclusion, along with Primary Comms Group, for supporting the Parramatta activation of the UNSEEN Arts Hub. This activation would not be possible without the leadership of women from the UNSEEN Arts Hub who have lived experience of housing insecurity and homelessness. We also wish to thank Code Green, AutoSkin, Avery Dennison, American Shingles, AWS, Soroptimist, Share the Dignity and Khun Khao Foundation, as without them - we wouldn't have an arts hub.