Bombshells and Balaclavas

Abstract

The performative media work of Australian artists Abdul Abdullah and Cigdem Aydemir is addressed at the precise rendering of a form of white fantasy about the Islamic Other that also neatly captures the terms of the immigration debate in Australia. Their art works appeal to the possibility of a different encounter between white Australia and immigrants from Islamic cultures, one that is informed by the mediated discourse of white paranoia but not contained within it. Gesturing to more beneficent outcomes while still inhabiting ‘the liminal spaces of inclusion/exclusion’ in Australia with all its attendant ironies.

Keywords:

• White Australia
• politics
• performance
• photography
• Islamic Australia

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under its Discovery Grant Program in DP160100272. Photographs were provided courtesy of Cigdem Aydemir (figs 1, 5–^{Figure 6Figure 7Figure 8}9) and Abdul Abdullah and Yavuz Gallery (figs 2–^{Figure 3}4).

Notes

1 The Australian Border Force was established on 1 July 2015 and combines immigration detention and border management with law enforcement. It has developed a quasi-military culture with the introduction of military-style uniforms and a renewed focus on the use of firearms by its officers, 25 per cent of whom will be trained in firearms use by 2020.