Migration to Australia after the second World War meant a mandatory two year period of detention. Photos of me in the camp show me outfitted in heavy European trousers. When my family were released from detention I suddenly was photographed in a sailor suit. This is probably the influence of Popeye cartoons, popular at the time. I was able to reference pop art, while the roundels of buttons surrounding a semi-folded beer bottle cap references the cowrie shell art of pacific cultures. The shell magically looks like a vigilant eye and is able to represent the presence of ancestors; my upbringing was in central Queensland, inland of Mackay, where sugar cane harvesting is prominent, and many cultures, including Torres Islander and polynesian, have settled. The diagonal cross-hatching of the background represents the wire mesh of the detention camp. At that time the Australian migration policy involved a two year period of mandatory detention.

The work Sailor Boy was commissioned by the curator of the Tamworth Textile Triennial, Australia's premier textile survey. I originally intended to title the work: "We are all boat people", a slogan in current use by advocates of the compassionate processing of refugees. I felt this medium allowed me to explore the narrative of being displaced on behalf of the current generation of visitors to my country. I decided to develop the theme less confrontationally, as Australia has a quiet tradition of ordinary people being compassionate to the less fortunate. That was the experience of my childhood.