Adam Baxter helped establish the Heartlands Refugee Art Prize. Picture: Kris Reichl.
Leader
WEST FOOTSCRAY'S Adam Baxter was never going to let other refugee artists struggle the way his father did.
Cedric arrived in Australia in 1946 from Burma.
"He was half
Burmese and half English and when the trouble broke in Burma the message
the family got was that they were not wanted," he said.
The family moved to Western Australia, but Mr Baxter said his father struggled to find anyone who would support his artwork.
"It
was hard for people who weren't English to be able to find ways to get
art galleries to support them and find any space to work," he said.
"I watched my father for several years trying to get a foothold where people would take him and his art very seriously."
Mr Baxter said his father would go on to win a Walkley Award for a cartoon published in the West Australian.
It was his father's plight that inspired Mr Baxter to help create the Heartlands Refugee Art Prize in 2010.
"The
art prize is an opportunity for refugees to identify art as a potential
career pathway and to show the contributions they made to the
community," he said.
Entries for the prize close on Friday. Details: 9188 3681 or multiculturalarts.com.au
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