Exhibition in the works

In the Canberra Archives there is a collection of more than 300,000 immigration cards, each containing basic information about the migrants who came to Australia after the Second World War. Name, nationality, eye colour, distinguishing scars – and a passport size photograph. I was captivated by the images of the children in particular, their confused, frightened and brave faces, staples carelessly piercing their tiny bodies. I’m in the process of editing these pictures for an exhibition to be held at the former Benalla Migrant Camp.

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Helga Leunig finalist in the 2016 MGA Bowness Prize

Happy to be a finalist in this years Bowness Prize.

Established in 2006 to promote excellence in photography, the annual non-acquisitive William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize is an initiative of the MGA Foundation. The Bowness Photography Prize has quickly become Australia's most coveted photography prize. It is also one of the country's most open prizes for photography (1).

Exhibition dates: Friday 1 Sept – Sunday 16 Oct

Announcement and opening: Wednesday 7 Sept

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Site of Bonegilla Migrant Camp, 2015

Artist statement: "My mother was born in Germany, and my father in Poland. As refugees in post-war Europe they wanted to get as far away from Europe as possible. My mother never made Australia her home, gradually she lost her mind. My father gave up and died of a broken heart at 59. I’ll never know exactly what happened to them during the war because they’re both dead now, but I’m trying to understand through the fragments I collect. I know my father was captured by the Nazis at 15, and didn’t tell his family he married a German. They thought he died during the war. The children of war-traumatised parents carry the trauma; it’s in our bones, literally in our DNA."