An Issue Of Representation HODA AFSHAR
In October last year I read a book, No Friend But The Mountains, written by one of the refugees on Manus Island, Behrouz Boochani, who is a Kurdish-Iranian journalist. A particular section where he described being photographed by the media made a significant impact on me. In this passage Boochani described how he felt as he crossed the tarmac to board a plane that would take him to Papua New Guinea, an act akin to running the gauntlet.
“The airport on Christmas Island has become a studio for a photo shoot. It seems that they are waiting in ambush, waiting for the time they can see me helpless and fragile. They are waiting to make me a subject of their inquiry. They want to strike fear into people with the movement of my possessed corpse… We get close to the journalists. One of the blonde girls takes some steps away and kneels down, taking a few artistic photographs of my ridiculous face. No doubt, she will create an excellent masterpiece which she can take back and show her editor-in-chief,
