A celebration of Rohingya culture draws on the story of the taro leaf as a way to meet the challenge of sustaining a culture while stateless.
The Meeras Pavilion is a handcrafted bamboo structure enhanced with interactive light and sound. Step into the immersive space, animate water-like light across taro leaves, and listen to a soundscape of rain on the borders of Myanmar and moments of making over the past four years of developing Meeras.
Alongside the Pavilion, a photo exhibition Like Water on a Taro Leaf celebrates the way Rohingya communities are making a mark by continuing to practice culture, resist erasure and continue their legacy (Meeras), despite immense challenges and living life in limbo.
Meeras means “heritage” in the Rohingya language. The Pavilion is the outcome of a three-year collaboration between Australian and Rohingya artists within the Creative Advocacy Partnership, co-designed alongside Rohingya communities in Sydney, Cox’s Bazar, and Kuala Lumpur. It offers a place where diverse communities can come together and stand in solidarity with the world’s largest stateless people.
Amigo and Lucid Space Design led the build of the artwork. However, over the past year, Rohingya and Australian artists and allies have gathered in Lakemba and Marrickville to collaboratively create parts of the artwork, including weaving taro leaves and water jugs from bamboo and rope. Over 150 people have been involved in this process, exchanging skills, stories, and food while gradually building a larger community around the artwork.
Alongside this, a group of Rohingya women have been meeting in Lakemba fortnightly for the past 6 months to develop the cultural program and make the outfits for the fashion parade (co-led with ARWDO) as well as creating a series of education programs, and advocacy events to engage the public and politicians (co-led with MSF and RMCN).
And a soundscape has been developed by Otis Studios, bringing together field recordings taken by the team in Australia and Bangladesh, it includes sounds of rain on the borders of Myanmar, moments of making, singing and telling stories together as well as sounds that echo the proverb of water off a Taro Leaf.
The Meeras Pavilion is part of City of Sydney’s Art & About Festival. More information here: creativeadvocacypartnership.org/meeras-pavillion
4 October, 3:30–5:00pm – Embroidery & Bamboo Weaving Workshops
4 October, 6:00pm – Performance & Storytelling Night
