Strength of Albany’s Karen community showcased in new Middleton Loop mural

A new mural highlighting the strength and resilience of Albany’s Karen community is brightening up a Middleton Loop alleyway.

The design of the mural was developed during a four-day collaboration between members of the city’s Karen community and project leads Nat Rad and Renee Tan.

Ms Tan said the positive energy of the community was on show during the “wonderful” consultation process.

“It was four days of playing, eating, dancing, games, language, musical instruments, show and tell, and lots of finger painting,” she said.

“Through those four days we were gathering stories — stories of resilience, strength and a youthfulness.

“That’s what we wanted to portray, the positive energy and the coming together of the community, as well as their contributions to our Albany community.”

The mural is being painted on the side of the office building shared by South West MLC Alannah MacTiernan and Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens as part this year’s Southern Art and Craft Trail.

“The Minister wanted a mural on the wall and through a process we recognised the Karen community as a really valuable design element that could go on the wall,” Ms Rad said.

“Of course, if they weren’t interested it wasn’t going to happen, but they were.”

Albany Karen leader Pah Shaw said his community took “great gratification” from being part of the project to help “boost the Karen community”.

He said it was special to see his community represented on the wall.

“It is amazing because we weren’t able to write our own history because of prosecutions and wars back in in our own country,” he said.

“Being able to see something like this is certainly special — words can’t explain how amazing it is.

“I encourage all the Karen people in Australia to work in unity to build our own community and our own identity in this country, and also to work collaboratively with others to achieve that goal we all have.”

Many members of the Karen community have resettled in Australia as refugees following persecution in their home country of Myanmar.

Mural artist Chad Marwick said he had referenced the vibrant colours of the Karen community’s fabrics for the final design.

Ms Tan said the completed mural would feature a rope linking all of its elements together as part of a story of strength, as well as the words of a poem titled Kwi-La’s Ropes.

“When the friends come and see the mural they will see the rope that is encircling the figures on a continuous line,” she said.

“The rope is made up of individual fibres, but when the fibres come together it makes it strong.

“It can be a sign of oppression — as we know, given the difficult circumstances the Karen community has come from — but at the same time it has been a guiding rope and a rope of strength.”

Ms Stephens said the mural demonstrated how art could be “transformative for communities by bringing people together and telling the stories that might otherwise go untold”.

Ms MacTiernan said the mural represented a journey from conflict to peace.

“Working together with the Karen community is about valuing democracy, stability, justice and fairness, knowing that they have faced significant adversity in their journey from Burma to Albany,” she said.

“I commend and thank Albany’s Karen community for this magnificent contribution to our urban space.”