Creative Advocacy Partnership

Meeras Pavilion

An interactive artwork that celebrates Rohingya culture and invites you to stand in solidarity with the worlds largest stateless people

At Customs House until October 6

As part of the City of Sydney’s Art & About Festival, Sydneysiders are invited to experience Meeras at Customs House Square, on Gadigal Country. Meeras is a handcrafted bamboo pavilion, embedded with interactive light and sound. Step into the immersive space, animate water-like light across taro leaves, and listen to a soundscape of rain on boarders of Myanmar and moments of making over the past four years of developing Meeras.

Alongside the Pavilion, a photo exhibition ‘Like Water on a Taro Leaf’ celebrates the way Rohingya communities a making a mark by continuing to practice culture, resist erasure and continue their legacy (Meeras), despite immense challenges and living life in limbo – By Victor Caringal and Zia Hero from Rohingya Photographer.

Over ten days, Meeras will come alive through a public program of open and registered events, including hands-on embroidery and bamboo weaving workshops, youth advocacy trainings, and a school education series for children. Audiences will also experience a curated film festival and panel discussion, culminating in a dynamic public showcase featuring music, fashion, poetry, and talks. 

Public Program

25 September – 6 October 
Customs House, Sydney

  • 27 September, 6:00pm – Performance & Storytelling Night 
  • 4 October, 3:30–5:00pm – Embroidery & Bamboo Weaving Workshops 
  • 4 October, 6:00pm – Performance & Storytelling Night 

All events are free; some require bookings due to limited capacity. 

Learn more about these events at Sydney What’s On

About Meeras Pavilion

Meeras means heritage in the Rohingya language. Rising from Customs House Square in the heart of Sydney — on unceded Gadigal land — the Meeras Pavilion is free for the public to explore. 

This immersive artwork is dedicated to Rohingya stories and their current experience of living in statelessness. Through music, light, and poetry, it stands as a defiant symbol of culture, solidarity, and existence. Sixteen towering taro leaves arch from its centre, forming a space that invites reflection, connection, and gathering. 

The Pavilion is the outcome of a three-year collaboration between Australian and Rohingya artists within the Creative Advocacy Partnership, co-designed alongside Rohingya communities in Sydney, Cox’s Bazar, and Kuala Lumpur. It offers a place where diverse communities can come together and stand in solidarity with the world’s largest stateless people. 

The build of the art-work was led by Amigo and Amigo and Lucid Space Design. However, over the past year Rohingya and Australian artists and allies have gathered in Lakemba and Marrickville to collaboratively make parts of the artwork, including weaving the Taro Leafs and Water jugs in Bamboo and rope. Over 150 people have been involved in this making, while exchanging skills, stores, food and gradually building a bigger community around the artwork.

Alongside this a group of Rohingya women have been meeting in Lakemba fortnightly for the past 6 months to develop the cultural program and make the outfits for the fashion parade (co-led with ARWDO) as well as developing a series of education programs, and advocacy events to engage the public and politicians (co-led with MSF and RMCN).

And a soundscape has been developed by Otis Studios, bringing together field recordings taken by the team in Australia and Bangladesh, it includes sounds of rain on the borders of Myanmar, moments of making, singing and telling stories together as well as sounds that echo the proverb of water off a Taro Leaf.

A feeling of statelessness

The Rohingya are among the most persecuted minorities in the world — and the largest so called ‘stateless’ population. For decades, they have endured systematic violence and exclusion. Today, 99% live in conditions of containment: refugee camps, detention centres, or in countries where they are denied citizenship. 

Statelessness strips away more than legal rights. It erodes culture, identity, and the sense of belonging itself. The Rohingya experience is not only a humanitarian crisis — it is an existential struggle to preserve dignity, memory, and a future as a people. 

At the heart of Meeras are 16 taro leaves, each carrying the proverb Hoñsu Fathar Faaní — “Water on a taro leaf.” This Rohingya proverb speaks to the way water sits on a Taro leaf like it’s floating, and then rolls off when the wind blows leaving no mark. This captures the experience of statelessness: the feeling of floating without anchor, belonging nowhere, and being pushed between nations that refuse recognition. 

“This is what statelessness feels like, because in Arakan our existence is being erased, and no matter where we live we cannot make a mark, its difficult to get our documents, practice culture and build a life. It feels like we are floating above the land, even gravity is against us. But for Rohingya people, existing is resisting, we need to keep living our lives, telling our stories, and continuing our legacy.” – Rohingya leads in the Creative Advocacy Partnership (CAP).

Yet the Rohingya are not defined by statelessness. They are a people who demand — and deserve — a return to their homes in Rakhine State, with dignity, safety, and hope for the future. 

Every day, Rohingya people make their mark. Through their art and music. Through their culture and traditions. Through their partnerships and resistance. Through the simple act of existing in despite of their situation, persecution, and plight. 

The Taro leaf is growing as an international symbol for Rohingya advocacy – read about the Taro Leaf project here, and ways the CAP are supporting communities to develop it through storytelling and creative practice. 

Other forms in the design is the central trunk and low canopy that references the Banyan tree which acknowledging Rohingya’s long connection to country, and the water jugs at the base of the leaves which celebrates Rohingya generosity as farmers would place them under the Banyans to offer rest for tired travellers.

Get involved

Attend 
Join with your friends, family, and community to experience Meeras in person – event info at Sydneys What’s On 

Share 
Post photos and reflections of your visit using #Meeras #TaroLeaf #IStandWithRohingya. (green taro leaf) 

Support 
Follow and amplify Rohingya-led organisations and the other organisations working alongside them. 

Partners

There are a wide range of amazing partners involved in this ambitious project. See partners below.

Creative Advocacy Partnership (CAP) – Co-design and programming Lead
The Creative Advocacy Partnership is a collective of artists, allies, and advocates.  Originally seed funded by Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia, Meeras is now supported by a range of organisations.

Amigo & Amigo – Design and production Lead
Co-designers, builders, and fabricators for the Meeras Pavilion at Art and About. Director is part of Creative Advocacy Partnership. Budget holders for artwork and build.

Leading Rohingya orgs: 

  • Rohingya photographer  – a photography magazine in Kutupalong refugee camp and community led storytelling projects shifting narratives around Rohingya communities

Supporting Partners