Behind the Tears ... Triumphant Voices: East Timor, a Photographic Journey
Photographs by Ross Bird, David Dare Parker and Stephen Dupont
Curated by Emmanuel Santos
Post Master Gallery, Australia Post House, corner Exhibition and La Trobe streets, Melbourne
Until June 23
REVIEW BY VANNESSA HEARMAN
This exhibition of almost 40 photographs, taken in East Timor between late 1999 and mid-2000, is a deeply moving collection of images.
Melbourne-based photographer Ross Bird has long been a supporter of the East Timorese people and their struggle for freedom. His rich black and white photographic essay, Inside Out, published last year, profiled members of the Timorese community in Australia. Bird placed their photos side by side with images of the country from which they have been exiled.
In Behind the Tears, Bird captures East Timor after the 1999 indepence referendum in vivid colour. Images of devastated schools and homes predominate, but also presented are images of a people tirelessly and stanchly fighting to rebuild their country: women with T-shirts tied around their mouths sweeping amidst the rubble of the destroyed Dili post office; children looking in wonder at piles of trashed school books in their roofless school; an old fisherman untangling his nets; and a woman engaged in the traditional handicraft of tais weaving.
There are also images of pure joy, of a people set free: two girls, jumping with their braids aloft in the air; two boys playing soccer in swirls of mist.
David Dare Parker's and Stephen Dupont's black and white images document the period just before East Timor's 1999 independence referendum. People were on the run, seeking refuge and confronting the violence of the militia that was armed and backed by the Indonesian military. They suffered the heartbreak of seeing their homes go up in flames and losing family and possessions.
The arrival of Interfet troops and the response of the people are also documented.
The photographers show us the determination of the Timorese people in a crucial period in their history. It is a great tribute to the Timorese people and the solidarity movement that helped them win their freedom. As one entry in the exhibition guest book stated: "How could we have let this happen? Let it not happen again anywhere."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, June 19, 2002.
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