The federal government is pushing ahead with plans for a radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the NT. There is strong resistance to the plan from Traditional Owners, the local community and the NT Government. This important photographic narrative, Manuwangku: Under a Nuclear Cloud, gives the affected Aboriginal communities a collective voice against the proposed radioactive waste dump. The exhibition aims to dispel the myth that remote areas are uninhabited and thus suitable to be dumping grounds.

Jagath Dheerasekara is a talented and respected photographer as well as an Amnesty International Human Rights Defender. His focus on exposing human rights abuses in the politically turbulent Sri Lanka of the late 80’s and early 90’s resulted in his torture, detention as a political prisoner, and the subsequent life as a political refugee in France. Once he settled in Australia in 2008, his themes became those of related to refugee, environmental and Indigenous peoples’ rights.

Opened by:
• Penny Phillips, Muckaty Traditional Owner

• Professor Larissa Behrendt, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning (UTS)

• Senthorun Raj, NSW Branch President, Amnesty International Australia

When: Exhibition open until Saturday January 28 2012

Where: Pine Street Gallery, 64 Pine St, Chippendale, NSW, 2008

RSVP: 13th January 2012

Contact: Natalie Wasley Ph:0429 900 774 or natwasley@gmail.com