On This Day 50 Years Ago

Fifty years ago today my Mum, Dad and I disembarked in Melbourne from the ship Castel Felice. One of many migrants leaving Europe for a better life in Australia. Imagine packing your entire life into a suitcase. Migrating from your home into the unknown. Leaving behind your heritage, family, your whole support network and even a piece of your own identity. Imagine the conflicting emotions of excitement for the adventure you are about to embark on, and feelings of apprehension and fear. With that comes the painful last embrace, final farewell and possibly the last visible glimpses of your loved ones. A journey such as this had a profound effect on my life and influence the themes in my work. These themes explore the emotional and psychological issues connected to such a journey. The conflicts between my culture of origin and the culture of my new home. Possibly the strongest theme and one which re-occurs constantly in my work is house and home and how the home is symbolic of self. It seems to me I have placed added importance to "home" and what "home" means to me. Possibly a direct consequence of migrating from my cultural birthright.

Mum and I had a lovely celebratory lunch, reminisced about the old days and toasted with a few wines to the next fifty years. In fifty years time Mum will be 125 years old and I would be 104 hehehe.