In celebration of Cultural Diversity Week, The Seasick is a powerful exhibition by siblings Elaheh and Arman Mahdavi, exploring Iranian refugee experiences.
In a series of paintings and postcards, the artists use personal stories of those who arrived by boat and the loved ones left behind, while highlighting the toll of Australia's asylum system.
RSVP Opening Saturday 21 March
Artist Talk Saturday 28 March 11am book here
Gallery Open
Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm
About the Seasick Collective
The Mahdavi siblings create across time zones and borders with the collective they co-founded, also called The Seasick. Their art practice is a bridge across an ocean they never expected would separate them.
Elaheh Mahdavi – who was forced to suddenly leave her home and family when Iranian authorities discovered her human rights work – is completing her doctorate in psychology at the University of Adelaide, writing, teaching, painting and raising her son here as a refugee. Elaheh, who spent five years as an interpreter for refugees, has focused her University of Adelaide psychology PhD research on potential benefits for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. She arrived on a boat in 2013.
Arman Mahdavi – a full-time painter who also teaches English, writes film scripts and storybooks, creates animations and studies psychoanalysis – works in green hills of the country’s northwest, away from Tehran, where they both grew up. He has held three solo exhibitions and has participated in several group exhibitions. In this very special project, he has also re-connected with his sister and shared their experiences on different sides of the refugee journey.
Image credit: The Seasick Collective, The Calling Sea 2024, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy The Seasick Collective.