By Xavier Smerdon
A LAVERTON artist has been recognised for her outstanding artistic ability at the AMES and Multicultural Arts Victoria Inaugural Refugee Fine Art Prize.
Mu Naw Poe, who arrived in Australia just two years ago after spending 20 years in a refugee camp on the Thai Burma border, was awarded $2000 for her vibrant paper collage Tha SnawTha Ku, which means Happy Heart in English.
Mu Naw Poe said her collage showed how happy she was in her new home country.
“I am happy to be free in Australia,” she said.
She said that living in Australia has allowed her to “learn new ways of using my talent for colour and patterns and new art forms.”
“My heartlands are my new home in Australia and my new home in art-making,” she said.
The New Heartlands Inaugural Refugee Fine Art Prize was launched last week in St Kilda where over 100 people flocked to see the artworks.
The prize was established this year to promote the skills, talents and creativity that newly arrived refugees bring with them to Australia and to recognise that refugee stories often need more than words to understand and appreciate.
