“ … they will not want you to go near them, they will not want you to touch them. If you’re meant to be sponging them or giving them a wash, they will decline you. They will say ‘I don’t want you. I don’t want you to touch me.’ It was very humiliating.”
In Martyn Reyes’ essay titled Filipino Nurses: Pillars of Australia’s Healthcare System, featured in a new artist-led exhibition running from March 9 to 25 in Sydney’s Inner West, he traces the history of Filipino nurses in Australia, highlighting the discriminatory experiences of two Sydney-based nurses from their arrival in the country to the global pandemic.
“In theory, if all Asian nurses were to ‘go back to where they came from’, the nation’s healthcare system would crumble,” Reyes, whose work can be found in the Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, SBS Voices and LIMINAL magazine, says.
“During COVID, more Asian-Australians have been subject to racial vilification; at the same time, they are relied upon to work on the frontlines, risking their health and sacrificing their wellbeing to nurse millions of Australians. Many fail to recognise that migrant nurses have helped shape the country’s healthcare system into what it is today.”
Filipino Nurses is featured in Rituals Of Resistance, which is part of the Diversity Arts Australia-produced I Am Not a Virus project that confronts xenophobia, busts stereotypes, and provides counter-narratives to issues of long-standing racism in Australia, intensified by COVID-19. I Am Not a Virus invited artists to respond to anti-Asian racism during COVID and beyond with music, performance, visual art, literature, spoken word and dance.
The project began after an upswing of racist attacks on the wider Asian community, which included verbal threats, physical intimidation, denial of services, workplace discrimination and being coughed and spat upon since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A poll conducted by Essential Media surveyed 1,010 Australians in August 2020, revealing that almost one-third of Australians blamed the coronavirus pandemic on the Chinese community. There has been a significant rise in anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racist incidents, a result of ‘blaming’ COVID-19 on these communities.
“I am excited by the possibilities for this project to open new conversations and ways of approaching this issue,” says Kevin Bathman, a project producer for Diversity Arts Australia. “We hope that it helps to strengthen communities while also supporting the artists whose communities are most affected by COVID-19 racism.”
Reyes’s piece is one of 10 new artworks at the powerful new exhibition, which is in partnership with Sydney’s Inner West Council. Opening night is Thursday, March 9, with appearances from Councillor Mark Drury, Diversity Arts Australia CEO Lena Nahlous, exhibiting artists and more.
Rituals Of Resistance is led by Diversity Arts Australia, supported by Refugee Arts Project and Inner West Council.
This event will be AUSLAN-interpreted. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Exhibition dates: 9-25 March 2023
Opening hours:
- Thursday and Fridays 2-7 pm
- Saturdays: 12-7 pm
Launch Event Tickets: 6-8 pm, Thursday, 9 March
Artist Talk: 6-8pm, Tuesday, 21 March
