Nerine Martini

This installation consisted of a number of small sculptures of suspended boats. The frames for the boats were constructed from split bamboo in Hue, Vietnam.  I had used these frames previously for an installation entitled Heaven Net/ Luoi Troi, which was included in an exhibition entitled Nam Bang! at Casula Powerhouse.

For Questions of Travel the bamboo boat frames were covered in the same checkered plastic that was used for the anchor. The title of the work was taken from Michelle de Kretser’s fictional account of various kinds of travel and travellers – tourists, asylum-seekers, immigrants and expatriates.^⁠1

The small sculptural boats suspended in from of the wall poetically allude to the challenges and uncertainties faced by people who have experienced forced migration. The checkered plastic is once again is referencing issues of poverty and mobility.
(1. Michelle de Kretser, Questions of Travel, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2012)