“The turbulent ocean I passed through was safer than the homeland I fled”
These are the words that greet people as they walk down a ramp into Kurdish artist Mostafa ‘Moz’ Azimitabar’s first solo My Message is Love now showing at Maitland Regional Art Gallery.
Senior Curator Kim Blunt chose this quote by Azimitabar not only for its significance but also to highlight the very important message his work conveys.
“You often hear people say, ‘Why don’t they join a queue?’. But there is no queue, and to understand that the only choice to jump on a boat that is life threatening is a significant one. And that’s why I wanted that quote to be at the front of people’s minds when they walk into the space.”
A sea of blue walls welcome audiences to a first floor gallery space that hosts Azimitabar’s works—a collection of his early works from 2021 which are acrylic on linen, his 2022 Archibald shortlisted self-portrait which uses coffee and acrylic on canvas, and some of his recent large-scale landscape works like the Land of Dreams made entirely with coffee on linen with his trusted tool: a toothbrush.
In 2013, Azimitabar fled persecution in his homeland in Iran and sought asylum in Australia but instead was detained on Manus Island for nearly seven years and then for another year in a Melbourne hotel prison. It was in detention that he first picked up a toothbrush and instant coffee when his request for these basic art supplies was denied.
“When I look at the toothbrush, it makes me smile. Whenever I paint, I remember about the time I started painting with a toothbrush. It gives me hope, not to give up,” says Azimitabar.
For him, picking up a toothbrush to paint was an act of defiance and resilience. It changed the course of his life and brought meaning to the senseless suffering he was being subjected to in detention. He continues to use a toothbrush as it serves as a reminder of what he has been able to overcome through the medium of art, something he does not take lightly.
“I paint in the name of refugees, for my humanity, and for the humanity of vulnerable people in Australia and the world,” he says.
“What I have seen is that refugees in Australia have been hidden. No one sees them, and I would like to highlight the story of refugees.”
He adds that politicians use refugees as easy targets in political point-scoring through divisive politics by painting refugees as ‘illegal’, ‘illiterate,’ ‘dangerous’ and instilling fear and hate in people about them. The rhetoric is unfair and used to garner votes, he feels.
This is something the Australian people can change in the upcoming .
He remembers his time in detention, where “there were lots of restrictions, punishment, torture and handcuffs, lots of high fences, electric wires around the fences, padlocks and chains, lots of noisy radios, and guns.”
He adds: “In my eight years of detention that I lived with refugees, I cannot remember even one case to see where the person might be harmful and dangerous.”
Despite the inhumane treatment he received while in detention, and the precarious uncertain visa he has to apply for every six months, hate is not something he believes in.
“Hate is destroying the world. It is a type of energy that can destroy life, and I want to dismantle hate,” he says. “I want to share my time with good people. I want to paint and draw, and I say that freedom is beautiful. I don’t want people to be in any types of detention.”
He attributes his freedom to people in Australia, especially Grandmothers for Refugees an Australia-wide grassroots movement that advocates for refugee rights in Australia. He believes that it is the kindness and love shown to him that enabled him to be freed from detention.
So, a regional gallery supporting Azimitabar’s message of love “is a reminder of our humanity,” shares Blunt.
“It’s always good to be reminded of the people that are a part of our community, and we want to support everybody in our community,” she adds.
“I think Moz’s story is quite rich. I think it’s important for the community to see that story, to see that there are people living amongst us that are suffering in this way. And to see how he uses art as a medium to help bring his message to light.”
Mostafa shares that his name means the nominated one or the Chosen One.
“So, I have been chosen to carry this story. I love my story, I know it’s very sad, but I love my story. It makes me very happy when I say I don’t believe in hate.
“I feel the world loves me. So, the world gifted me a toothbrush, spiritually… in a chaotic situation, in a torture centre … to bring my message of love to everyone.”
Mostafa Azimitabar: My Message is Love
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
On now—until 1 June
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