The Border Industrial Complex Series
The Border Industrial Complex (BIC) is a series of paintings depicting the stories and resistance of refugees in the Australian offshore detention center in Nauru. The artist, Elahe Zivardar, began creating the Border-Industrial Complex series while imprisoned in the tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru by Australian authorities.
She used painting as a way to cope with her hopeless situation, aiming to heal from the nightmare she was experiencing inside the detention center and to expose the cruel and barbaric policies of the Australian government. Along with approximately 1200 others, including pregnant women and infants, they were detained in Nauru out of sight and out of mind, all denied their fundamental human rights.
The Border Industrial Complex series of paintings is an ongoing project. Each painting portrays real stories from the Nauru detention center. Elahe Zivardar aims to depict and raise awareness of how refugee, stateless, and migrant minorities are treated throughout the migration process, especially at borders. She uses her skills in architectural representation and her knowledge of perspective in a new form of storytelling through paintings.
The title Border Industrial Complex was suggested to the artist by Dr. Omid Tofighian after Elahe’s contribution to the special issue of Southerly 79.2: Writing Through Fences – Archipelago of Letters.
The series of paintings received an honorable mention award and were exhibited at the United Nations International Art Contest for Minority Artists, highlighting intersectionality, in November 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Vessels
Border-Industrial Complex No.7
Amethyst
Border-Industrial Complex No.6
Concealed Borders
Border-Industrial Complex No.5
Purple Pain
Border-Industrial Complex No.4
Judgment
Border-Industrial Complex No.3
Nameless
Border-Industrial Complex No.2
