With Alice

Sasi Victoire is a visual artist, curator and educator with over 40 years of experience. As a child from a colonial education system in Malaysia, her knowledge of British literature gave her an understanding of the West be it a superficial one.

However, in Australia, she recognised that the reverse did not happen for an understanding of difference and diversity. While these words are frequently used as political and economic tools, the broader social issues of psychological change that occurs in migrant arrivals are not understood; They struggle to find a sense of belonging. 

Migration and settlement are often celebrated in terms of the migrant’s economic success and advancement in their home countries - the story of oppression, loss of culture, obstacles for belonging and struggle, are often not told. In integrating and straddling both home culture and Australian influences Victoire provides an alternative vision for the under-representation of cultural diversity in the arts; Using Alice from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as a familiar protagonist for her storytelling. Her work questions and critiques her continuing journey for identity, covertly raising human rights issues like migration, settlement, discrimination, and women's rights.

Many of the works in this exhibition were used as projections in her play, Alice in the Antipathies. The play was a cross-cultural touring production that completed two seasons, in Cairns and Kuala Lumpur. The touring program was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid.