About the exhibition
Identity: yours, mine, ours is an exhibition at the Immigration Museum. It is about identity – who we are, who others think we are, and what it means to belong and not belong in Australia.
The exhibition focuses on how our cultural heritage, languages, beliefs, and family connections influence our self-perceptions and our perceptions of other people – perceptions that can lead to discovery, confusion, prejudice and understanding.
Engaging personal stories, intriguing objects, compelling images and interactive multimedia experiences invite visitors to find connections with others, as well as challenge the assumptions we make about each other every day. Visitors are encouraged to share their own stories, affirm their own identities and celebrate diversity in our community.
Welcome
We have the means via the smallest gesture to include or exclude and to signal whether someone is an outsider or not. We defend invisible territories or we give ground, and all without a word being uttered.Lynette Wallworth
The exhibition begins with Welcome – an immersive video installation created by Australian video artist Lynette Wallworth.
Welcome invites you to contemplate what it means to belong, and conversely, what it means to be excluded, via a visceral work that plays powerfully on instinctive human responses.
The life-size scale and impact of this work allow you to experience the subtle (and not so subtle) ways we are accepted and rejected by others.
Have you ever noticed a glance of curiosity or disapproval from a stranger? Or shared a smile of understanding?
How did you respond? What did it make you think about?