Tassie photo exhibit breathes new life into reality of asbestos scourge

25 February 2010

The Australian Workers' Union is happy to be one of the sponsors of an extraordinary photographic portrait exhibition, putting a heart-rending sympathetic focus on the widows who have lost husbands to asbestos related diseases in Australia.

The AWU is currently campaigning for the ‘prioritised' removal of all asbestos-containing materials from Australia by 2030 and has set up a national asbestos register for all Australians ill from, or exposed to asbestos. ( Get more information here)

Read the pain of the scourge of asbestos

"Through the faces and eyes of these widows we can read the pain of the scourge of asbestos, " Chris Ireland, the photographer who spent 2 years on the project, explains.

"I have titled the exhibition BREATHE. Breathe is an imperative- it is what the women must do every day in order to continue. BREATHE also refers to the struggle for breath each sufferer must overcome, and ultimately what they are eventually unable to do."

Hundreds of Australians die each year from exposure to Asbestos. The BREATHE exhibition is concerned with the surviving widows and is dedicated to the men they have lost.

Exhibition opens February 26

The Tasmanian Exhibition - which opens on February 26 at the Moonah Arts Centre - is the fourth leg of a national tour which has already been seen and widely praised in New South Wales and Victoria.

In Tasmania the principal sponsors of the exhibition are, apart from the AWU, WorkCover Tasmania and the Tasmanian State Government.

This self-funded project was made possible with the assistance of Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia and Gippsland Asbestos Related Diseases Support group.

Fifteen widows have their portraits taken

These two asbestos support groups helped identify people who were interested in the portrait project and provided assistance throughout the 2 year project.

Chris was motivated to undertake the project because he felt it was an important social issue which although it has experienced some media attention often overlooks the widows affected.

Fifteen women from Victoria and New South Wales agreed to have their portraits taken.

AWU wants to associate with wonderful, touching portrait exhibition

Tasmanian AWU Secretary, Ian Wakefield, said his union was eager to be associated with this wonderful, touching portrait exhibition.

" Our union is very aware of the catastrophe that has been caused by asbestos and has campaigned for some time to have a prioritised national recall of all asbestos containing material, in all forms from across the nation," Ian Wakefield said.

AWU wants dangerous product recall

"The asbestos plague has taken a heavy enough toll on this country already. The AWU is advocating a ‘dangerous product' recall. This slow moving catastrophe has destroyed the lives of thousands of workers and their families - and will kill and maim thousands more over the next 20 years.

"It has been estimated that ultimately 10 million people world-wide will be killed by asbestos," Ian Wakefield said.