GET OUT • 2019
As a new migrant in Australia, 44 years ago at 11 pm after work, I got off the train at the station where I found myself alone with a large man who told me to go back to where I came from. His discriminatory words have stayed within me since, echoing long after the the rush of fear-induced adrenaline from the encounter left my body.
I have tattooed multiple vellum supports with a poem referencing this enduring experience in eight widely spoken languages, and created a burning red neon light that literally reverses the words ‘GET OUT'.
Get Out, 2019, tattoo ink on vellum, 29 x 29 cm
In the dark
Bald head and big he is
Approaching
Getting closer he is
All of a sudden
Get out . . .
I heard
Go back to your . . .
He mumbles
Right next to my ear
- Pamela Leung 2019