The City of Onkaparinga is inviting those who came to Australia through war, persecution, displacement or internment to tell their story for a new art project.
One Million Stories calls for submissions from residents to tell your story – or that of your family – with selected art to be displayed at Noarlunga Library across Refugee Week (from Monday 15 June).
The project aligns with Refugee Week’s 2026 “A Million Stories” theme, which reflects on the fact Australia has issued one-million permanent humanitarian visas to people from across the globe since 1947 – people who have helped to build modern Australia.
You don’t need to consider yourself a refugee to take part in the art project – submissions can come from anyone who has come to call Australia home through war, persecution, displacement or internment; and you may choose to tell the story of family members instead.
Any medium is welcome, including poetry, photography, drawing, painting, collage or embroidery.
Participants must also submit up to 120 words to explain your artwork.
Head to the council’s website for more information on the project or contact Mia Mandara on 0481 057 999 or Mia.Mandara@onkaparinga.sa.gov.au.
Jesús Capriles studies in Onkaparinga and is taking part in the project.
Jesús left his homeland of Venezuela with his wife and son in 2018 due to the country’s enduring “political, economic and social crisis”, which left them traumatised and also persecuted because they shared the same last name as a prominent politician who opposed the government.
“It’s not easy for me to recall the reasons why I left my country because it heavily marked my life and that of my family,” Jesús – a psychosocial therapist, artist and sculptor, explains.
“Having to give my son protein but we were only eating rice, having to pay for a taxi with a package of flour because there was no cash in the banks, being constantly exposed to crime and government intimidation for openly being opponents of the government… the situation was something that took away your freedom and your rights to exist.”
Jesús and his family made the painful and uncertain crossing over the border to Colombia, “losing everything, my country, my family, and realising I wouldn’t see my brothers, nephews and friends again”.
Soon, they made it to Ecuador with only their suitcases and their memories, where they had to start their lives “literally from scratch” for the next 4-and-a-half years, finding odd jobs, sleeping on the floor and securing food from places frequented by the homeless. But they also faced discrimination there as Venezuelan migrants. Jesús mother-in-law joined them in Ecuador.
When they learnt of a program that could see them resettled at a third country, they jumped at the opportunity to apply, and were thrilled when they were eventually accepted by Australia, arriving in Adelaide, as a family of 4 in 2023.
“Australia became the hope for a better quality of life,” Jesús says.
“The work of adaptation is a process, [and] although we have many things covered from the economic and health aspects, it’s a new process of mourning, of loss – facing a new world, a different society with a totally different culture and a new language.
“It’s starting from scratch with new challenges.”
Despite these challenges Jesús says they’re “grateful to the universe” for the opportunity to come here and seek a “better quality of life and physical, mental, emotional and spiritual stability”.
“Thank you to Australia and Adelaide for hosting us,” he says.
Jesús’s submission for One Million Stories will be titled, Life in a suitcase.
“I’ll use mixed media to represent the trajectory from Venezuela, Ecuador and Australia, expressing my journey in art through representing a world map, suitcase and the 4 members of the family,” he says.
“My art will represent the new hope that living in Adelaide offers.”
Another local taking part in the project is Mehreen Rehman, who’s submitting a deeply personal poem about the quiet grief and courage of leaving one’s homeland behind and learning to call a new country home.
“It reflects the experience of migrating to Australia, carrying memories of parents, childhood streets, language, culture and identity, while slowly building a new life, new routines and a family in a place that once felt unfamiliar,” says Mehreen, who arrived in Adelaide from Pakistan in 2015 with her husband, who was already an Australian citizen.
Mehreen – a telecom engineer by profession – says living in Pakistan as an Ahmadi Muslim meant always having to live in fear of being caught or persecuted.
“For many Ahmadi families, the decision to leave is not simply about seeking a better life, but about survival, dignity, and the hope of raising children in a place where faith does not make them unsafe,” she says.
“The poem is inspired by the emotional space between loss and belonging: the ache of leaving loved ones behind, especially parents, and the hope that comes with creating a future for one’s children in a new land.
“It speaks to the journey of many who live with one heart in the country they left, and one heart in the country they now call home.”
A free meet the author event is also being hosted at Aldinga Library during Refugee Week on Friday 19 June.
Join acclaimed author Mij Tanith as she shares the inspiration and journey behind her powerful new novel, Laila’s Story. Bookings essential.
Laila’s Story is a blend of narrative and poetry that documents a year-long effort to support an Afghan single mother Laila, and her 5 daughters as they seek safety in Australia.
Pictured
Left: Mehreen Rehman and her family. Right: Jesús Capriles.