This piece I’m working on is about how post-contact Indigenous narratives are constantly interrupted by colonialism. It’s a simple idea: I painted a picture that represents Aboriginal Women’s spiritual being in a traditional, everyday life setting. I then plan to paste archival writings from White men who deemed themselves some kind of authority on the ‘savages’ over the story I’ve told with my painting. This stuff still hurts. It cuts to think these people thought we had no word for ‘love’, and were thus incapable of loving. That is dehumanising. This dehumanisation made it easier for them to dispossess us; to subjugate us; to rape and kill us. I’ve rearranged the words five or six times now, and still haven’t pasted them, because while this is a representation of how our stories and histories have been constantly interrupted and changed in order to present a fabrication of who we were and are as a people, it still hurts. It still hurts to read these words, even though this man is long dead. It hurts because I know the damage that’s been done by the misrepresentation and dehumanisation of Indigenous people that fostered colonial violence against us. It hurts because the views that stem from this still exist today.

Pieces from Arts Mildura Small Works Prize

Some of my writing has been featured in the latest issue of the PEN Melbourne magazine. I’m so happy to be sharing stories that place Aboriginal women at the centre of the narrative in a way that reveres and celebrates us, as well as uplifting our LGBTQ+ communities and highlighting our Indigenous languages. PEN International does amazing work in giving a voice to marginalised and oppressed people worldwide. Please support them if you’re able to. I’m proud to be part of their community of writers.

Next Series of Work - MaRauaRa - Two Fingers Beside: Exploring Duality

My next series of work is exploring a concept that has been an interest of mine for the past ten years or so: Duality.

We are taught about opposites from an early age. As a child, you are shown what is hot and cold; good and bad. There is a notion that a thing only exists in relation to its opposite. Extremes meet somewhere in the middle. Opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; there exists varying degrees of the same thing – duality being an important part of a whole.

Life is about reconciling opposites. Everything in the Middle is about Preservation. We exist, for the most part, in the Middle.

I want to explore the extremes of dualism: The Polarity. I want to create pieces that focus on the extremes:

· Creation – Destruction

· Serenity – Chaos

· Light – Darkness

· Heat – Coldness

· Life – Death

I want to explore these polar human emotions and traits:

· Mercy – Severity

· Love – Hate

· Truth – Ignorance

· Dominance – Submission

· Acceptance – Rejection

· Passion -Apathy

MUNTA (Sacred)

Munta (sacred in Paakantyi) is a view of the female form. The work emulates and challenges ‘objects of ethnography’ that depict Indigenous women and their bodies as something to be collected and studied, while stripping them of agency and silencing their voice. Munta seeks to dismantle this phenomenon and give voice to these women through reclamation of artistic intent usually misinterpreted as obscene, primitive folk art.

Munta strives to open discussion surrounding this often-ignored part of cultural study by reminding the audience of the nameless women seen posed in traditional garb, feigning engagement in some traditional activity. It brings attention to the notion that these women’s worth was measured by how pleasing they were the white male gaze; that their importance within an ethnographic and anthropological space was depending which famous white man’s collection they belonged to.

At its core, Munta represents sacredness; an expanding life journey; fertility; and celebration. 

Current WIP

I am working on a pre-contact Paakantyi love story with a wlw Aboriginal female lead.

Here is some background information:

In traditional Paakantyi life, as part of maintaining matrilineal society and kinship systems, many family groups travelled up and down the Paaka (Darling River) to visit other groups on other Lands. There are nine groups belonging to the Paakantyi nation, and each member of the groups adhered to the structures of moiety, or tribal divisions. This determined how knowledge and teachings were passed on; custodianship of Country; kinship; and marriage.

With the Paakantyi, there are two tribal divisions based on two Ancestor Beings: Makwarra (Rain Wind – West Wind) and Kilpara (Cold Wind – East Wind). They each were tasked by Kurlawirra (God), with creating a few different animals. Makwarra was the first Wedge-tailed eagle. Kilpara was the first Crow. Makwarra’s and Kilpara’s creations would be the waRnka (totems) of the people. The people whose waRnka belonged to Makwarra could not marry others who belonged to Makwarra.  The same was true for people whose waRnka belonged to Kilpara. They had to marry someone from the opposite side.

These structures meant people often had to journey along the river to find a mate outside of their direct kinship links. These were times when whole families would travel away, in hopes that their sons and daughters would be able to make a love match; either on their own, or with the person they were ‘Promised’ to. Often, when these matches were established, the person who had travelled would need to return to the lands of their Country to undergo their rites of passage before a marriage could take place. When that happened, the lover who was leaving would make a promise to return. They would sing a song, perform a dance, or draw artwork in the sand telling of their journey and their promise.

I want to tell a story based on the premise of a young woman travelling down the river with her family, so that her older brother could meet his Promised one. When she gets there, she is old enough to spend time in the Women’s Camp. This is where they share stories, learn new skills, and meet future family connections.

While in the Women’s Camp, she meets another young woman. They spend the whole time together, and eventually fall in love. When it is time to return to her Lands, the woman makes her promise to her Nhuungku parlayi in the form of a poem:

Nhiinta

Thika-apa kiirayi-Ri

Karingku-nhangki; Nguukatuma parlu-alpa-ili

Muka muka mirrityana

Mirrimpilyi.

Nhiinta wurakayi.

Nhuungku parlayi.

Nganpa-ayi.

Manta-ngimapa-inthu.

Let go.

I am going back to my Land early in the morning.

Soon, we two will sit listening.

Silent.

Out in the sunlight. Happy and contented.

Let go, My Friend.

My Companion.

My Love.

Wait for me;

I will return to you.

An explanation of my series Munta (Sacred)

Munta (meaning sacred in Paakantyi) is a series of artworks that depict imagery of womanhood from the view of an Aboriginal woman and artist, Sian Harris. The work emulates and challenges the ethnographically collected imagery of womanhood and femininity. Munta gives meaning to images that would have been misinterpreted as obscene or distasteful.

There has always existed depictions of women from the view of the white male gaze. Munta seeks to dismantle:

The colonial/settler view of Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native women: Explore how the ‘primitive nature’ of the subjects made it acceptable to show full nudity, exposed breasts, and scenes of rape and abuse (which were often fantasy scenarios drawn by settlers). It was improper and crude to depict white women in such ways, but settler’s views of Aboriginal women made these images acceptable. Their unencumbered sexual access to Aboriginal women gave rise to this type of ethno-pornography.

The production of these images went a long way in solidifying stereotypes of Aboriginal women. The white male settlers who were ‘observing’ cultural practices had no real understanding of what was happening with regard to motherhood, courtship, childbearing etc. because it was Women’s Business. This lack of understanding meant they went ahead and fabricated the parts they didn’t know. These fabricated ideals of Aboriginal women, their sexuality, and relationships to others still informs negative stereotypes today.

The misinterpretation of sacred objects depicting women’s bodies: Viewing sacred objects that represent fertility; creation; life cycles; and spirituality as folk art. These objects are given surface accommodation, as part of the process of colonisation. They are seen as tokenistic remnants of a culture that is being replaced. They are viewed as a reminder of the ignorance of the Natives. When applied to artefacts that hold spiritual importance to women in particular, they are relegated even less importance than the objects aligned with men’s spiritual practices.

The Objects of Ethnography: Examining ‘objects of ethnography’ depicting women, especially Indigenous women. Munta explores how depictions such as paintings, photographs, etchings etc., and actual parts of women’s bodies are studied and collected, but their voices are rarely heard. For example, the nameless women seen posed in traditional garb, feigning engagement in some traditional activity. Their worth is measured by how pleasing they are the white male gaze. Their importance within an ethnographic and anthropological space is depending on the famous white man’s collection to which they ‘belong’. Academics build their careers on ‘studying’ them. Yet these women, once recorded, collected, and quantified, have no agency and no history. They serve as a snapshot of a time in the past where the narratives that men built around them inform the damaging views that persist today.

The Exoticness and ‘Otherness’ of Native Women: The objectification of Aboriginal, Indigenous, and Native women, as with the art, and lifestyle of Paul Gauguin, in the South Pacific. The phenomenon of Indigenous women being seen as both hypersexual yet undesirable at the same time is also explored. This juxtaposition is a result of colonial views of Indigenous women.

These themes will be deconstructed through the series of artworks created by the artist.  She aims to challenge the inherent value judgements that are placed on women by society, and to challenge the internalised misogyny that has been so ingrained for generations. Through these works, she seeks to reclaim the art of women’s spirituality through representations of the female form; through Women’s Business. It is a celebration of womanhood and all that it entails. 

Sun-Kissed

You are sun-kissed.

Set against the salubrious sheen of the secure wall.

Strong and stubborn. Ah, somewhat sweet.

Quiet. Nice. Serene. Like the perpetual humming of a familiar song to drown out external existence.

Soft. Safe. Warm; a Warmth that caresses my skin with dancing fingertips; trailing patterns that go unseen on weary flesh.

You are sun-kissed.

Thalka kala-athu (I Search for Lights)

Paaluru 

Para-miRi

Thalka kala-athu

Ngaatha-marri-apa

Mika-nganha

Puuri-waka-athu 

Wilpa-ngalpili

Punthanya

Intya intya intya

Pami-la kulypara-pira

Thungka

Ngata nhawala-athu 

Thalka kala-athu-la

Long way, to a distant place

Long ago, in the distant past 

I search for lights

I am nothing at all

Pain is me

I imagine a ghost 

I lose myself

A useless person.

Oh, yes? Really? Is that so? 

I see an omen

Darkness 

Perhaps, I will perish

As I search for lights