Terry Summers

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In 2002 I exhibited "Waiting" another protest installation in waste cardboard, this time against the Federal Government's treatment of asylum seekers.

This consisted of 40 standing figures inside a chain wire compound topped with barbed wire, titled "Waiting Room" and 40 inverted hanging figures titled "Waiting to be Processed".

All of the life sized figures from adults to babies had a black card over their eyes, representing the media icon for a person whose identity was not to be revealed. It also saves us looking into their eyes and allowing them to see our guilt and embarrassment.

Many of the figures had a subtle cardboard strip pasted over the mouth area, some with simulated stitches representing the time when detainees stitched their lips together and went on hunger strike as a vain protest against the long wait for their release from custody.

The installation as a whole was intended to give a feeling of the hopelessness of the situation for a group of persecuted people from a different culture, vainly asking for help, and the treatment that they have received from the government of a more affluent society.

 This installation was entered into and exhibited in the National Sculpture Prize in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

 The installation "Waiting Room" won the Peoples Choice Prize in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.