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gbatts's review
4.0
Thoroughly researched and compassionate without being sentimental. I was fortunate enough to see Safdar in an author talk where he spoke about some of the famous artworks he’s referenced in his images and this added a deeper level of appreciation to my reading.
I do wish he trusted his images a bit more to do the talking as I often felt he was over explaining with text.
I do wish he trusted his images a bit more to do the talking as I often felt he was over explaining with text.
leodanbrock's review
5.0
"Art can be helpful for trauma - which the brain codes differently to other experiences. Traumatic experience forms a 'hot memory' wihch spills through time and space - meaning it can be relived and felt as though in the present. Its narrative context is lost...allowing it to penetrate a person's everyday life."
This absolutely needs to be mandatory reading...especially for all Australians. Graphic novels can be such a powerful medium for educating people on serious topics and this book is a clear example of it. Safdar Ahmed directly addresses the wilful implicitness of Australians when it comes to advocating for refugees; simply disagreeing with the inhumane policies our government has established is not enough - what are you actively doing in your community to support these people? I really hope that this becomes a useful text to students in Australian high schools - I really would have loved to have read something like this when I was younger and I feel like this is such an accessible text to further educating yourself. Definitely something I'll be lending to others.
This absolutely needs to be mandatory reading...especially for all Australians. Graphic novels can be such a powerful medium for educating people on serious topics and this book is a clear example of it. Safdar Ahmed directly addresses the wilful implicitness of Australians when it comes to advocating for refugees; simply disagreeing with the inhumane policies our government has established is not enough - what are you actively doing in your community to support these people? I really hope that this becomes a useful text to students in Australian high schools - I really would have loved to have read something like this when I was younger and I feel like this is such an accessible text to further educating yourself. Definitely something I'll be lending to others.
darramundi's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
desterman's review
5.0
Safdar Ahmed’s graphic novel, Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s Immigration Detention System (2021), merges genres of biography, journalism, history and politics to produce this confronting and heart breaking reflection on Australia’s Immigration policies. Ahmed positions himself from the outset as someone who has wrestled with his own demons and processed these successfully through art. Wanting to make a difference, he decides to offer art therapy classes to refugee’s in Sydney’s Villawood Detention Centre. Here, he learns about the injustices of the legal system, the inhumane policies of successive Australian governments who treat refugees as though they are vermin, but more importantly, he meets a range of refugees and learns their personal stories.
I read this in one afternoon and found it difficult to put down, despite the challenging content. Ahmed structures the story with a perfect balance of individual stories, history and personal anecdotes. The individual refugees he focuses on give tremendous insight into the terrible lives people flee and their subsequent journeys to Australia and internment in what can only be described as prison camps. Ahmed effectively communicates the collective struggle, while also showing what makes these individual experiences unique. The overview of Australia’s increasingly barbaric refugee policy and the reflection of this in negative attitudes and public discourse towards refugees and boat people is sharly conveyed through both minimal yet effective factual text and stark illustrations. Ahmed reflects on his own role in the saga as well, how normal Australian people, whether they agree with the policies or not, are implicit in what happens to these refugees as they don’t demand more from their politicians or do more to help the situation. Many of these refugees are floundering in Australian immigration detention for years as the wheels of the law move so slowly, only to then be given a temporary protection visas, placing them in further never ending limbo.
Ahmed’s sketches are drawn in black and white, combining caricature, realism and symbolism. The inclusion of some sketches and artwork of the refugees themselves in this gives an added layer of emotion to the story Ahmed is trying to tell. The metaphorical images of monsters, knots, chess pieces and walls all help to communicate the experiences of the refugees both before their entry into Australia and afterwards. The text is sometimes overly didactic, but only when it needs to be and frequently returns to the emotive and fraught personal stories of the refugees impacted by these policies and events.
It is a raw and very personal piece of work, in some ways depressing, but in other ways a real dedication to the fortitude and resilience of so many who risk everything to save their own lives and will endure more for the opportunity to live in freedom or see their families again. It is also a terrible indictment on Australia’s immigration policies and helps remind us what a bleak and shameful chapter of Australian history this has been.
I read this in one afternoon and found it difficult to put down, despite the challenging content. Ahmed structures the story with a perfect balance of individual stories, history and personal anecdotes. The individual refugees he focuses on give tremendous insight into the terrible lives people flee and their subsequent journeys to Australia and internment in what can only be described as prison camps. Ahmed effectively communicates the collective struggle, while also showing what makes these individual experiences unique. The overview of Australia’s increasingly barbaric refugee policy and the reflection of this in negative attitudes and public discourse towards refugees and boat people is sharly conveyed through both minimal yet effective factual text and stark illustrations. Ahmed reflects on his own role in the saga as well, how normal Australian people, whether they agree with the policies or not, are implicit in what happens to these refugees as they don’t demand more from their politicians or do more to help the situation. Many of these refugees are floundering in Australian immigration detention for years as the wheels of the law move so slowly, only to then be given a temporary protection visas, placing them in further never ending limbo.
Ahmed’s sketches are drawn in black and white, combining caricature, realism and symbolism. The inclusion of some sketches and artwork of the refugees themselves in this gives an added layer of emotion to the story Ahmed is trying to tell. The metaphorical images of monsters, knots, chess pieces and walls all help to communicate the experiences of the refugees both before their entry into Australia and afterwards. The text is sometimes overly didactic, but only when it needs to be and frequently returns to the emotive and fraught personal stories of the refugees impacted by these policies and events.
It is a raw and very personal piece of work, in some ways depressing, but in other ways a real dedication to the fortitude and resilience of so many who risk everything to save their own lives and will endure more for the opportunity to live in freedom or see their families again. It is also a terrible indictment on Australia’s immigration policies and helps remind us what a bleak and shameful chapter of Australian history this has been.