Journal
Articles
An archive for the dispossessed
As an archive, the Jaffna Public Library told a story about the place of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The political authorities of the 1980s wanted to suppress that narrative – and burning the archive was a quick and conclusive way to do it.
Zamby, zombi, zombie
ANGRY MEN GATHERED in the dark of night at Bois Caïman, the Alligator Woods, under the shadow of the...
Disrupting the colonial narrative
The many Indigenous nations of the globe have always been storytellers, and our stories tell of an animate reality...
Mud reckoning
THERE IS NO such thing as bad Country; there just happens to be bad custodians.
Beating the bounds
‘LIKE THE BROLGA Dancers at the Mullet Run,’ Murree grinned, squatting easily against the base of a gum tree...
Supercut
Questioning the past is a vital part of my role as an artist. Art has the influence to shape the way we think and perceive the world, as it has throughout history. I’m motivated by the desire to improve and do better, and the same goes for how I want my art career to proceed. The need to do better in the future is predicated on the fact that to do so, we need to revisit and interrogate the past. This is especially important in a country such as Australia, founded on colonial violence and with a legacy of racism that persists today.
Radical hope in the face of dehumanisation
Our Elders are the epitome of these thousands of generations of existence and survival in this place, and if we’re thinking about the future of the world and our survival, we need to be learning from these people. They hold the most knowledge, the most intimate knowledge of not just surviving but of thriving and maintaining generosity in the face of all the challenges.
Being here
BACK IN 2015, when we were getting the local language work going here at the Aireys Inlet Primary School...
Living cultures under the acts
These stories go something like this: pioneering spirit and entrepreneurialism have built success for the whites who have flourished, while congenital bad character leads our peoples to our inevitable conclusions. Pioneering spirit is celebrated across the landscape: Pioneer Park. Pioneer’s Sculpture. Bicentennial Park.
Last rites
I COLLECT MY father on a hot Friday morning from a funeral home in Preston. He’s waiting for me...
My mother’s silence, my nation’s shame
ON 4 FEBRUARY 1942, stripped of all identification, hands wired behind his back, my grandfather and some 160 other...
Writing back
SIR SAMUEL GRIFFITH was my great-great grandfather. He was one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Australian Federation, a premier...
