Fotos voice West Papuan perspective

TRADES Hall is the host of Ballarat International Foto Biennale exhibition, Understanding the Pacific through the independence struggles of the Moluccans and West Papuans.

Organised by the Free West Papua Ballarat Support Group, the show presents the photography of Tommy Latu, an Australian advocate of West Papua and Maluku independence, who is originally from Sumatra and has Maluku ancestors.

Latu’s father was part of the Indonesian Army. In 1975, Latu was a child who witnessed “parades of soldiers and tanks” ahead of Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor, and he remembers it well.

“I work my camera to inform and advocate,” he said.

“Few Australians know about West Papua and Maluku except as tourist destinations or World War Two battle sites.

“I hope [my images] inspire you to support our independence.”

Louise Byrne has curated the exhibition which includes 20 years’ worth of captures of West Papuans, advocates and allies, assemblies, political events, cultural festivals, freedom forums, musical performances, and more, all through Latu’s eyes.

Images have been taken in West Papua, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Federation Square, St Kilda, Docklands, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Pipemakers Park in Maribyrnong, Parliament House in Canberra, Darwin and even Bakery Hill, Ballarat.

Ballarat Trades Hall is the meeting place of the Free West Papua Ballarat Support Group.

Annually, the group raises the West Papuan flag, the Morning Star, on 1 December, in recognition of West Papuan peoples’ fight for independence against the Indonesian military.

Understanding the Pacific through the independence struggles of the Moluccans and West Papuans is scheduled to run until Sunday, 24 October at Trades Hall on Camp Street.