Every piece you purchase helps the life of a refugee.
Kiln-formed glass art by Fiona Trembath…
‘Sometimes things are going on, and we don’t see them. Or, if we do, we don’t feel them. We are comfortably numb, and being on the other side of the glass keeps us separate.’
In November of 2019, I met Moz, an Iranian refugee who was being held in detention in a hotel room in a Melbourne suburb. Moz was finally released with temporary visa status in 2021 after a total of nine torturous years in detention. He is one of the lucky ones. Many men and women still suffer behind the glass across the country in detention centres, on and off-shore.
My ‘raison d’etre’ for creating glass art is not only art for its own sake, but also for a higher vision: to support refugees’ financial needs.
This means that 100% of every purchase goes into a fund-raising account (‘Behind the Glass’) and is directly passed onto individual refugees.
I then use this money to help specific refugees with specific needs. It could help with rent, or car rego, some new clothes, a bill payment or food. I’ll do my best to help with the funds I raise.
Working with glass gives me the ability to explore, experiment, and create objects of beauty while contributing to the lives of others.
‘Some like their hands immersed in the earth; I like mine gripped on glass cutters.’
How you can help…
Head to the gallery page and choose your piece; prices are listed. Then, click the purchase button, and email me the name and size of the glass piece. Finally, with your name as a reference, please pay using the bank details provided.
Contactless collection from my ‘Wild Cherry Glass’ studio in Eltham is available and is my preferred delivery method. Or you can come and browse if you’d prefer. (But please email me first to make a time.) Packaging and posting glass can be time-consuming, expensive, complex, and full of excess packing materials that I’d rather not add to our already dire planet’s fragility.
Please collect your piece or ask someone to collect on your behalf where possible. If collection is not an option, please let me know, and I will happily work something out for you.
‘The responsibility of privilege must always be to raise others up.’
- From ‘Still Life, by Sarah Winman.
I’m privileged to be able to play and work with glass; and it’s an honour to help raise others up, who otherwise would be stuck behind their own glass walls.