Ilona Jetmar - 'Making Sacred: Objects of Diaspora'

Wednesday 21 November - Sunday 16 December 2018

"This body of work represents an ongoing investigation into how a contemporary art practice might facilitate a sense of home and belonging for an Eastern European born immigrant growing up in Melbourne’s Hungarian diaspora. The identity of a child of diaspora is shaped by transferred memory through family archival materials such as family stories, objects, photographs and re-staged cultural practices. These works, as a part of a growing body, addresses these issues in the re-imagining, re-contextualising and re-presenting of these family archival materials through the medium of painting.

In my experience, growing up in Australia after emigrating from Europe I have observed the reification of cultural practices by those in the Hungarian diaspora. This acts as a key prompt in my recovery and representation of objects and memories taken from family archival materials, as my practice looks to test the validity of memory and its interaction with a new place. Through my contemporary art practice, I attempt to reconcile and connect with a lost heritage while revealing the dislocated cultural practices of this diaspora. This not only works to test my own foundations in this but to interrogate my belongingness in my adopted country."