Memories That Make Us: A multimedia exploration of the post-war Italian migrant experience

The Italian Assistance Association has launched its latest exhibition, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the hundreds of thousands of people who migrated to Australia from Italy after World War Two.

The exhibition takes its inspiration from Memories That Make Us, a documentary directed by Martin Potter and shares the same name. Many of the stories featured in the film are reimagined and presented in a new way as part of the exhibition.

Mr Potter is also one of the exhibition’s co-curators, alongside artist Toija Cinque, exhibition producer Pip Minney, and emerging creative Carla Maggio De Leo.

Running from March 10 to May 16 at CO.AS.IT on Faraday St, the exhibition features artworks, photographic timelines, and moving visuals created by Italian migrants and their descendants.

It is part of CO.AS.IT’s cultural program and has emerged from a long-term research project conducted by Associate Professor Potter, Associate Professor Cinque, and Professor Sean Redmond from the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University.

CO.AS.IT’s cultural program manager, Paolo Baracchi, told Inner City News that “this project, from day one, has been about intergenerational sharing of stories within our community and, crucially, sharing these stories beyond the Italian community.”

“Communication with other Australian communities, we believe, is a significant part of Australian history,” he said. •