Where are you from?

Students and staff share personal stories of what it is like to experience the question 'Where are you from?' in a mostly white Australia.


When:

14 February - 12 May 2022
 

Where:

Level 5 Main Library
Online exhibition

Partners:

Sabina McKenna
UNSW EDI

For many people of colour living in communities with a white predominance, the question 'Where are you from?' is a regular encounter. While this question might be considered harmless, it can be othering and tiresome to constantly explain your existence.

Where are you from? was created to celebrate, educate and raise awareness about the BIPOC identity, through thought provoking art and storytelling.

Therapy for some, an education for others; the project stimulates the vital conversations about belonging and acceptance that need to be heard and shared.

In this exhibition, curator and writer Sabina McKenna brings the Where are you from? project to UNSW. Students and staff share personal stories of what it is like to experience this question in a mostly white Australia. Together, these stories unpack the different connotations the question can carry and shine a light on the complex relationship between nationality, ethnicity and personal identity.

View the online exhibition.

Image gallery

Past events from this exhibition

Opening event

Where are you from? was opened by UNSW's President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Atilla Brungs. Speakers also included Sabina McKenna, curator, writer and founder of the Where are you from? project, and Nayonika Bhattacharya, UNSW’s SRC President and Where Are You From? participant.

Event was held on Wednesday 23 March 2022.