Hemlich Unheimlich: a poetry and art collaboration

Part poem, part story, a mixture of image and textwith a dash of autofiction, Heimlich Unheimlichprobes the concepts of home and belonging. Thecontext is the aftermath of the Second World Warand the intertwining childhood stories of twowomen both named after different types of cloth.Hessian is a German girl born towards the endof the Second World War, whose father fought inthe German army. She migrates with her family toAustralia when she is still a child, where she sufferssome discrimination because she is German. Sheeventually becomes an artist. Muslin is born intoa Jewish family in England after the war. She is aviolinist who subsequently becomes a poet andmigrates to Australia as an adult.Her family, who live in the shadow of the holocaustand are unforgiving of Nazi Germany, are preoccupiedwith preserving a Jewish ethnicity. BothHessian and Muslin are shaped by, but also rebelagainst, the cultural environments in which theygrow up.Heimlich Unheimlich suggests strong links betweenMuslin and Hessian, despite their contrasting,even conflicting, childhoods. It explores, throughphotographic collages, the inter-generationalaftereffects of the Second World War and the shadowit cast of personal and collective trauma. Thework has considerable relevance to contemporaryAustralia and global issues concerning war,migration, displacement and ethnic identity.