Robinvale perspectives

 

John Katis: A first generation perspective

Mortar, pestle and copper

The Greek national anthem remembered

Images: Mortar and pestle brought from Greece in 1955. Metal copper made in Australia, about 1940s. Photographs: Jo Sheldrick.
Audio: Verses of the Greek National Anthem sung by Tony Pyrgos, recorded by Lea Collins for Migration Memories: Robinvale, Canberra, 2007.

John Katis chose his mother’s mortar and pestle and the Australian copper to express the ‘two dimensions’ of his life as a migrant coming from Greece as a child in the 1950s. A less tangible object for John is the very strong memory he has of verses of the Greek national anthem, sung here by Tony Pyrgos.