Healing Arts

Healing Our Spirit Worldwide - Hawaii 2010

2010-10-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

Who?

Originally initiated by health-workers, and now to include presentations and participation from people with a range of different cultural, spiritual and professional backgrounds, including Indigenous elders, cultural workers, community organizers, educators, students, activists, artists, researchers and healers.

What?

A truly awesome and inspiring gathering including official welcomes, Pow Wows, feasts, workshops, exhibitions, a film festival, poster presentations, tours, youth program and general talk-fest.

When?

The conference happens every four years or so.

Hawaii represented well in 2010.

Seen here discussing the proposal in Hawaii, Australia won the bid for the next one - which will be held in Alice Springs 3 or 4 years time from now - keep an eye out for info regarding the gathering there in 2013.

Australia has held one before - in Sydney, 1994, 2 years after it was initiated in Edmonton, Canada.

Where?

Over 2000 delegates attended the 6th HOSW conference that was held at the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu, and surrounding venues on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Apparently previous conferences hosted up to 3500 delegates in Edmonton, Canada.

How?

The conference is the result of a huge amount of planning and preparation on behalf of a number of committees and working groups such as the International Indigenous Council.

The calls for abstracts of proposed presentations closed earlier this year, a few months before the actual conference.

Why?

The overall theme of the HOSW conference this year was love - all-encompassing yes, but this is the basis of Hawaiian culture: their greeting, Aloha, literally means love, and what a great movement of healing to bring to the Hawaiian Islands and beyond.

The conference was originally initiated around the themes of addictions but now it encompasses so much more:
Governance & Self-Determination Issues & Challenges in Health & Healing, Moving Beyond the Impacts of Historical Trauma, Cultural Oppression & Colonialism, Community Prevention of Diseases & Public Health, Best Practices in Community & School Based Health Promotion & Prevention Strategies, Residential Schools & Intergenerational Impacts & Institutional Abuse, Treatment & Aftercare – Addictions,Tobacco, gambling, etc., Indigenous Culture, Language,Arts & Medicines, Proactive Intervention & Prevention Strategies for Suicide, Restoring Balance from Trauma & Violence, Research & Evaluation, Training & Education, Impacts of Drug Wars\Impact of Wars on Indigenous Populations, Prenatal & Early Childhood Wellness, Mental Health & Addictions, Healing Programs for Offenders & Victims, Nutrition, Physical Wellness & Injury Prevention, Gender Issues, Best Practices in Reconciliation, Health, Homelessness and Poverty, Best Practices in Urban Health and Healing

Videos:

Before arriving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crd24DDcBlc

Opening Ceremony on the water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N181lavNG3I

Links:

The website: http://www.hosw.com/

http://www.healingourspirit.net/

Reports about the Hawaii HOSW, 2010 gathering:

http://alpenglolocal.blogspot.com/2010/09/healing-our-spirit-worldwide-north.html

http://hawaiihealthguide.com/healthtalk/display.htm?id=878&hhsid=883ea43ea5ff12dac53a7b30a60c94e9

The fifth gathering, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2006:

http://www.pimatisiwin.com/uploads/815066568.pdf

A report about the Albuquerque HOSW, 2002 gathering:

http://www.cathcomm.org/aboriginalcm/hhouse/WorldHealingConf.htm

Manifesto

2010-08-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

The alterNATIVE (Curators) Manifesto

(or how to manifest an alternative/fringe exhibition to the blockbuster show)

1. Get creative.
...in an activist kind of way - See problems as an opportunity for progress.

2. Name the enemy.
... be direct, unapologetic and precise.

3. Invite the people you would like to work with.

... Use all personal contacts you've ever had.

4. Trust the artists and let them do things they’re planning to do and they’ll do their best.

... Never point to the work, but discuss the strategy.

5. Focus on the centre.

.... Usually that is the place where you are situated and then radiates out from there.

6. Poach performers from the blockbuster exhibition.

... Some are bound to be related to the artists in your show.

7. Create a corroboree / ceremony for the now.
... “As we grow older, we ourselves become the storytellers...
In the ceremonies we celebrate the awareness of our lives as sacred.”

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr
Dadirri – Listening to one another

8. Invest great energy into the catalogue / website...
People mostly remember the opening parties and catalogues.

9. Make the most of social networking – online and face-to-face.

... And document everything. Its your ticket to the next one.

10. Make sure there is a next one.

A draft of this Manifesto was first presented at the Pacific Arts Associations 10th International Symposium, Rarotonga, August, 2010 http://www.pacificarts.org/symposia

Pacific Arts Association Symposium, Rarotonga Cook Islands, August 2010

2010-07-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Arts Association 10th International Symposium is on in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in August, where I am honoured to be able to present a paper about 'the other APT'.

Until I add more info here later, please find more info at these links:

blog: http://cook2010.blogspot.com

program: http://pacificarts.org/node/329

detailed schedule: http://pacificarts.org/node/420

http://www.pacificarts.org/node/83

I have previously attended a PAAE (Pacific Art Association Europe) conference at Cambridge University, Museum of Archaelogy and Anthropology, UK, in 2006, where I presented a paper on Aboriginal New Media Arts in 2006

http://www.pacificarts.org/pacificarts.org/europe06

Road Trip

2010-06-20T02:46:00.000-07:00

A short Film

One Liner:
A young girls memory of a road trip with her dad which sparked a nation wide search.

Synopsis:
This is a personal story of an extended camping trip that explores ideas of movement, family, place and the mindset of the 70's.

A 4 year old is on a long journey with her father. She spends time with his side of the family enjoying new experiences.

Then the Police take her away and she leaves them behind.

Story Outline:
A father and mother agree that he can take his daughter south to a beach side camp for a long weekend. They end up on a road trip, a very long drive, around 3000km further north. Her dad buys her a bag of mixed lollies and a new denim outfit. Her Grandma is there as well, with whom she spends some nurturing time and a new coastal landscape. Her father works.

Meanwhile, her mother is distraught and seeks custody and police support. A nation wide search ends months later.

This is a story of “kidnap”.

Background:
The primary purpose of this as a short drama is to impart the story. While this is an obvious statement, it is however necessary to ascertain that it is not an intention to flesh out “issues” or spoon feed the audience. Rather, provide a personal account of a story that has had an impact on peoples lives and the audience will be left to make up their own minds.

This work investigates important elements of my family history and involves research with family members and possibly more formal culture brokers also.

The story generally looks at kidnap by family members, important oral history along with an environmental snapshot of the day (1970s). The outcome could also possible take the form of a docudrama.

This project follows on generations later, from where preceding projects ‘other[wize]’ and ‘unsettled’ left off. See: www.cybertribe.culture2.org/unsettled

There is a script for a 10minute film... however I plan to further research and develop ideas in order to further develop for a trailer.

When finalised it could possibly be suitable for multiple screening contexts, including the site-specific.

Approach / Style:
This story will be told through utilising a range of dramatisation techniques.

An “unearthing” or collective remembering and family photographs could be used to compliment some scenes.

· This can be filmed in 3 parts, or locations: the road trip with father and daughter, mother and baby at home and also father, daughter and grandma at the Darwin destination. Along with 1970s style costuming and props, Super 8 footage is suggested here, for a more grainy “old” feel and an orange tinge similar to the photography from that era.

· Re-enactment of Television / Radio News 1976, Newspapers, Radio. The re-enactment, or re-creation will add a different dimension to the mere retelling of the story.

· Narration could also be added.

Indian Cowboys / Cowboy Indians

2010-06-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

Video Installation
Dimensions Variable

“Whoever the last true cowboy in America turns out to be,
he’s likely to be an Indian.”

A quote by William Least Heat-Moon (originally William Trogdon),
from Blue Highways: A Journey into America

Statement about the work by Jenny Fraser:

This work is a communication to my old people.

When pondering their image, I noticed that the photographs had been doctored to lighten skin.

This pains me.

It seems that they were too black.

They worked on cattle properties, far away from their homelands.

I wish to try to let them know what their old stomping ground is like now…

dressing-up in the photo booth is something that people do for fun.

It’s not real, but it is the photography of the day in a theme park inspired playground.

Pictured here is my art family, lenticular-style, a movement, a resistance…

I am left to wonder how real the portrait sittings were for my old people?

Did they find it fun?

What would they dress as now? The Indian or the Cowboy or the Cowboy Indian?

Detail view (family photographs)
Detail view; Video Installation at ICAN (Indonesia Contemporary Artists Network), Jogjakarta

the Journey of Healing

2010-05-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

The Journey of Healing is the name of an event held each year at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. It is a feel-good community gathering that is hosted by the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit in collaboration with Goorie Berrimpa Student Association and UQ Union whos students and staff commit good energy towards hospitality.

I was fortunate to be able to attend last year when the theme was 'More than a word' - great food, great company and great nourishment for the spirit. We heard personal stories from some of the Stolen Generation, Songs and Speeches about the progress after the official Apology.

There is more info and images from that night here: http://atsis.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=108005&pid=41919

The Journey of Healing is coming up again on Friday the 28th May, 2010, under the theme of 'Closing the Gap on Reconciliation'

Heres the invitation: http://www.uq.edu.au/atsis/docs/2010_Invitation.pdf

Wear shades of Purple, Black and White : )

straight to the top

2010-04-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

An Intervention prepared by Jenny Fraser, Panangka Production, for:

9th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 19 -30th April 2010, NYC, USA.

* Special Theme – Indigenous Peoples: development with culture and identity; Articles 3 and 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

I would like to congratulate the Australian Government for following through on the official Apology to the Stolen Generations with the announcement that an interim team would assist with consultation towards the development of a Healing Foundation. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Development Team recognizes cultural renewal as part of a spiritual process towards healing. “For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to properly heal, they will need to re-connect to, and strengthen their sense of cultural identity. This may involve language, dance, song and custom, but this does not have to be only in a “traditional” context.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Team Discussion Paper, 2009, FaHCSIA, http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/progserv/engagement/HealingFoundationDevelopmentTeam/Pages/DiscussionPaper_ATSI-HFDT.aspx

Australia looks to Canada, where they already have a Healing Foundation and importantly, it was established as an Aboriginal-managed, national, not-for-profit private corporation that was independent of Government, yet representative of Aboriginal Organisations. If Australia is genuinely interested in “Closing the Gap” on the appalling health statistics that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, the Government may look at relinquishing control to let us be the masters of our own domain, allowing Aboriginal management to drive the proposed development of the Healing Foundation. 

So far however, Australias current commitment of $26 million to be used only towards a consultative process for the Healing Foundation (with no further investment towards infrastructure or programs) follows on from extensive reports over the past decades including the Womens Taskforce on Violence Report, The Gordon Inquiry Report, The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce Final Report, The Western Australian Child Health Survey, The Little Children Are Sacred Report and The Bringing Them Home Report among others. The findings in these reports should be enough to provide the basis for the alarming need for commitment towards considerable compensation, especially given the importance of “moving-on” in the public discussion about the Apology.

As Chairperson of the Townsville Indigenous Human Rights Group, Gracelyn Smallwood has commented post-Apology “My expectation was that culturally appropriate programs would be put in place to address the trans- generational trauma that has been passed down. That day opened up a lot of wounds. If you’re going to make such an incredible statement you’ve got to have infrastructure in place to follow on. They did this in Canada and South Africa. Unfortunately we’re not seeing any of those fruits.”

Condon, M. The Hardest Word, Q Weekend Magazine, February 7 & 8, 2009 p22

It is also important to note that long before the official Apology by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the previous Canadian Government had committed $350 million compensation for Aboriginal Canadian Residential School Abuse sufferers. This was wisely invested into culturally significant initiatives such as talking circles, language revitalization, digital storytelling and other projects. Such arts initiatives are not only for the good of those individuals that endured horrific treatment under the government, church and the dominant mainstream population, but their descendants, families and tribes, along with the wider community. This is a suitable model for Australia to follow in attempting to address the impact of the horrendous wrongs of the past on an individual and collective level, perhaps allowing us all to move forward with a healthier mindset. However, we wait for that type of meaningful “money where your mouth is” gesture of commitment from the Australian Government in retrospect.

However, let us not mistake these calls for action as another good excuse for struggling mainstream (non-Indigenous) arts organisations to prop up their own program with the Aboriginal Dollar or fund their own unique Aboriginal experience or indeed expect to draw on the resources of already stretched Indigenous communities. Instead allow us to utilise compensation funding to get on with it ourselves. Because without the qualities espoused by certain Aboriginal Artists and others at the community level, there is no spirit of striving and no capability of improving the lot for self or others, for there is no vision and no confidence to transform the vision into reality. The vision is that our humanity might be more than it is.

We need to cast ‘Aboriginal voices’ into the struggle for recognition and ownership of wellbeing, which risks becoming exclusive in various ways — a domain defined narrowly through access, availability, technology, funding, privilege and policy-driven barriers. As Nunga Director Lee-Ann Buckskin reflected about the Carclew project Working Towards Celebrating Healthy Communities “Everyone had an idea of how that should be done and as an Indigenous person and an arts worker, one of the greatest struggles I have is about people not listening and making assumptions about what people need. Understanding doesn’t have to be a battle. It shouldn’t be a battle. Just opening up to another way of thinking is a good start! And I tell you what; if we do that someone might actually teach us how to do something different”

Arts for Healthy Communities, Big Story Country: great arts stories from regional Australia 2008, Regional Arts Australia, p46

The Healing Arts have the expressive potential for us as a multitude of Aboriginal cultures to enable and effect change for ourselves, while also participating in the mainstream social constructs known as “health”, “culture” and “the arts”. Utilising the potential of the Healing Arts, by using the old and new ways, making art and putting a high value on storytelling as a way of bringing cultural values into the mainstream, is a holistic approach towards wellbeing, as well as a way of participating in society and having an authentic Aboriginal voice.

It is therefore highly recommended that the Australian Government provide a meaningful injection of monetary investment towards the proposed Healing Foundation and also instigate a health and wellbeing regeneration in which contemporary Aboriginal cultural practice and healing arts should naturally be the spearheard. 

image: the General Assembly at the ninth United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, 2010, day 1

more info on the United Nations PFII http://www.un.org//esa/socdev/unpfii/index.html

Road Kill

2010-04-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

These works are part of a wider series titled 'hit the road' which are all based on roadkill of native animals on lands in the Bundjalung Nation that encompass a diversity of terrain to include rainforest and coast. The photographs highlight the distinct beauty of our animals, even in their death, and are also symbolic of how native people are treated by wider society in Australia - widely ignored and denied after impact, just like road kill.

With regard to the power of communication between people, the Super Highways and other road networks of Australia now could be likened to the ancient songlines of old, but with such devastion caused by our thoroughfare, what song are we offering to the victims? A death march? Clearly the minds of progress do not have much consideration for the movements and habits of our animals.

showing at the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, New York City, USA,

opening April 20 until June

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii

see the previous works : 'Hit the Road' 2005

http://www.cybertribe.culture2.org/oldschool/feathers/index.htm

and the essay:

http://www.conundrumonline.org/Issue_3/Feathers_Float.htm

look good feel good : the art of healing

2010-02-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

“Storytelling Aboriginal people are not without hope, for we are strong peoples. We have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in our long and painful histories, because our creator has given us the tools necessary for our survival. We must not be shy to use them. We must no longer feel the shame and fear that our grandmothers and grandfathers felt about what we are and where we have come from. We must look to ourselves for our own guarantees, for we are the only ones that we can trust to ensure that our needs are met”

York, Canada, 1989

Long before the official Apology by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the previous Canadian Government had handed over $350 million compensation for Aboriginal Canadian Residential School Abuse sufferers. This was wisely invested into culturally significant initiatives such as talking circles, language revitalization, digital storytelling and other projects. Such arts initiatives are not only for the good of those individuals that endured horrific treatment under the government, church and the dominant mainstream population, but their descendants, families and tribes, along with the wider community. This is a suitable model for Australia to follow in attempting to address the impact of the horrendous wrongs of the past on an individual and collective level, perhaps allowing us all to move forward with a healthier mindset. However, we wait for that type of meaningful “money where your mouth is” gesture of commitment from the Australian Government in retrospect.

Meanwhile at the community level, some artists from around Australia are proactively making headway into maintaining what I like to call the “Healing Arts”, highlighting the processes and issues regarding the wellbeing of Aboriginal people and also the inter-relatedness of others. The Healing Arts have the expressive potential for us as a multitude of Aboriginal cultures to enable and effect change for ourselves, while also participating in the mainstream social constructs known as “health”, “culture” and “the arts”. Some of those leading the way in both ancient and newer forms of Aboriginal expression are Gulumbu Yunupingu, Emma Donovan and myself.

In recent years Gulumbu Yunupingu has been rejuvenating the Dilthana Yolgnu healing method, also known as ‘bush sauna’. Her “patients” are wrapped in paperbark and leaves, with hot coals creating a steaming for their body, which along with massage, eases aches and pains. She was taught the technique by senior women including Gunygulu Yunupingu and has successfully used traditional healing on her own daughter after she fell into a coma from a serious car accident and became paralysed, seeking permission to treat her with a traditional sauna on a beach in Darwin. Since then Gulumbu has put her own prolific and innovative visual art career on hold in order to benefit others, co-founding The Healing Place, or Bush Hospital in Yirrkala, North East Arnhem Land. According to the Governments recently founded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Working Group, healing is “a spiritual process that includes recovery from addiction, therapeutic change and cultural renewal”.1. So isn’t it a shame that those communities that are literally left high and dry under the Governments Intervention and subsequent bans, don’t have such healing initiatives supported for those people going through alcohol or kava withdrawal? They are left without the benefit of such a responsible and effective form of detoxification that the bush sauna technique provides. Where is the Governments Duty of Care after such outlandish, pointed and discriminatory measures?

Similar types of traditional healing techniques are also being used alongside mainstream medicine as a norm in places like Bali in Indonesia, but in Australia we tend to deny the importance of a both-ways philosophy. With his own needs for healing, Murrungun multi-artform practitioner Tom E Lewis reminds us: “I'm very lucky. I can enjoy the two cultures of this country. I can use the whitefella culture and the blackfella culture. The more we cross our paths and make a better pathway for us, through music and through our art, it's a good medicine.” 2 Utilising the potential of the Healing Arts, by using the old ways, making art and putting a high value on storytelling as a way of bringing cultural values into the mainstream, is a holistic approach towards wellbeing, as well as a way of participating in society and having an authentic Aboriginal voice.

Musician Emma Donovan belongs to the Naaguja, Yamatji and Danggali Tribal groups and recently launched her new single 'Ngarranga - Remember', in Gumbaynggirr language. A year on from the Australian Apology to the Stolen Generations, the Ngarranga and 5 track EP release coincided with National Sorry Day on May 26th 2009. The song was initially released on the Kimberly Stolen Generation Corporation's compilation Cry Stolen in 2007 and Emma says of the work “My song 'Ngarraanga' is a tribute to stolen generation people of this country. With the apology and everything that's happened there's still a lot of hurt and there's still a lot of pain.”3 Musician Ruby Hunter bridges the experience of that generation and often advocates through her own brand of Blues music. She was born traditionally and raised traditionally, but a stolen child at age eight. Stripped of identity and dignity, her and husband Archie Roach built their lives up through music and re-established themselves on their traditional country. Ruby reminisces on her strength, “Even though there’s a lot of things that weren’t good about those days, there were some things that were happy. You can make unhappiness wherever you are. But positivity pulls you through, to be proud.”4

My own artwork, ‘unsettled’ is an online interactive project that digitally retells nine stories of my old people through a mix of oral history and ongoing research, celebrating the people and place of Yugambeh in South East Queensland and my familys movements beyond. Following on from ‘other[wize]’ these interactive digital stories mark place and time and are offered through the use of old family photographs, Yugambeh language, sound, along with contemporary documentation of country and re-membering. Native Canadian Curator Ahasiw Maskegon Iskew (R.I.P) originally commissioned the work for Storm Spirits, an Aboriginal New Media Art initiative in Canada. “The Storm Spirits premise arises out of Aboriginal concepts of the intersecting animist relations that inhabit the realms stretching from astronomy to meteorology, geology and down into microbiology, and offers them as new rhetorical designations of the relations that are evolving in the multiple streams of contemporary Aboriginal media art production. Storm Spirits focuses on Aboriginal artists whose work inhabits and maps out these intersecting spheres of influence and who contribute unique forms of vitality to the dynamic and essential interplay between Indigenous traditional knowledge and contemporary Aboriginal culture” wrote Ahasiw in his curatorial essay, 2005.5 A vital aspect to the development of ‘unsettled’ was a process of revisiting and an exploration of country, learning and using Yugambeh language and other opportunities for re-connection to make sense of lived experience and also understand the extent of trans-generational trauma derived from massacres and the many other injustices of the day. Through engaging in this process, and gaining strength from my familys’ own inner knowledge and solutions, the project stands as a legacy that allows my family stories to be offered up as an alternative to the mainstream Queensland version of the history of colonisation.

As an annual follow-on to the Australian Apology, so far the current Rudd Government has announced that an interim team would assist with the development of a Healing Foundation. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Development Team recognizes cultural renewal as part of a spiritual process towards healing. “For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to properly heal, they will need to re-connect to, and strengthen their sense of cultural identity. This may involve language, dance, song and custom, but this does not have to be only in a “traditional” context.”6

Australia looks to Canada, where they already have a Healing Foundation and interestingly, it was established as an Aboriginal-managed, national, not-for-profit private corporation that was independent of Government, yet representative of Aboriginal Organisations. If Australia is genuinely interested in “Closing the Gap” on the appalling health statistics that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, the Government may look at relinquishing control to let us be the masters of our own domain, allowing Aboriginal management to drive the proposed development of the Healing Foundation.

So far however, Australias’ current commitment of $26 million to be used only towards a consultative process for the Healing Foundation follows on from extensive reports over the past decades including the Womens Taskforce on Violence Report, The Gordon Inquiry Report, The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce Final Report, The Western Australian Child Health Survey, The Little Children Are Sacred Report and The Bringing Them Home Report among others. The findings in these reports should be enough to provide the basis for the alarming need for commitment towards compensation, especially given the importance of “moving-on” in the public discussion about the Apology. As Chairperson of the Townsville Indigenous Human Rights Group, Gracelyn Smallwood has commented post-Apology “My expectation was that culturally appropriate programs would be put in place to address the trans generational trauma that has been passed down. That day opened up a lot of wounds. If you’re going to make such an incredible statement you’ve got to have infrastructure in place to follow on. They did this in Canada and South Africa. Unfortunately we’re not seeing any of those fruits.”7

However, lets not mistake these calls for action as another good excuse for struggling mainstream (non-Indigenous) arts organisations to prop up their own program with the Aboriginal Dollar or fund their own unique Aboriginal experience or indeed expect to draw on the resources of already stretched Indigenous communities. Instead can we get on with it ourselves, utilising compensation funding and some breathing space? Because without the qualities espoused by certain Aboriginal Artists and others at the community level, there is no spirit of striving and no capability of improving the lot for self or others, for there is no vision and no confidence to transform the vision into reality. The vision is that our humanity might be more than it is. Also at issue, is whether and how these recently socially acceptable processes and artforms may be thought of as the ‘next level’ of Aboriginal cultural expression?

We need to cast ‘Aboriginal voices’ into the struggle for recognition and ownership of wellbeing, which risks becoming exclusive in various ways — a domain defined narrowly through access, availability, technology, funding, privilege and policy-driven barriers. As Nunga Director Lee-Ann Buckskin reflected about the Carclew project Working Towards Celebrating Healthy Communities “Everyone had an idea of how that should be done and as an Indigenous person and an arts worker, one of the greatest struggles I have is about people not listening and making assumptions about what people need. Understanding doesn’t have to be a battle. It shouldn’t be a battle. Just opening up to another way of thinking is a good start! And I tell you what; if we do that someone might actually teach us how to do something different”8

The Healing Arts is an emerging notion in itself in Australia, producing scattered and tentative projects and critical writings, but unfortunately there is little Aboriginal input, reflection, discussion or representation and ownership. More Aboriginal artworks and projects mindful of healing need to be produced, exhibited, promoted, and written about; or at least provided with an injection of meaningful monetary investment towards a health and wellbeing revolution in which Aboriginal cultural practice will naturally be the spearheard.

Jenny Fraser

1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation (Team) Discussion Paper, 2009 FaHCSIA, http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/progserv/engagement/HealingFoundationDevelopmentTeam/Pages/DiscussionPaper_ATSI-HFDT.aspx

2. Tom E Lewis, Nexus, Australia Network, 2008. http://australianetwork.com/nexus/stories/s1994299.htm

3. Soul Sister, Living Black, SBS, June 2009 http://news.sbs.com.au/livingblack/soul_sister_563685

4. Pawle, F. Ruby’s GOLD, Limelight Magazine, ABC, April 2006, p31

5. Storm Spirits – Aboriginal New Media Art, 2007 http://www.stormspirits.ca/English/latest_developments.html

6. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation Team Discussion Paper, 2009, FaHCSIA, http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/progserv/engagement/HealingFoundationDevelopmentTeam/Pages/DiscussionPaper_ATSI-HFDT.aspx

7. Condon, M. The Hardest Word, Q Weekend Magazine, February 7 & 8, 2009 p22

8. Arts for Healthy Communities, Big Story Country: great arts stories from regional Australia 2008, Regional Arts Australia, p46

link: 'unsettled' http://www.cybertribe.culture2.org/unsettled

* This article is the unedited version originally written for publication in Artlink Magazine, March 2010

images - top: Gulumbu (left) and her Grand-daughter (right) treat a stroke victim, 2009. Photo by Jenny Fraser and courtesy of the Yothu Yindi Foundation

middle: Ruby Hunter (R.I.P) at the Barunga Festival, 2008. Photo by Jenny Fraser.

below: Screen-grab from 'unsettled', 2007.

Garma Festivities

2010-02-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

The Key Forum for the 2009 Garma Festival was Indigenous Creative Industries, held over August 8 - 10 at Gulkula, near Yirrkala in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

As I mentioned when I was speaking, I noticed some great differences at the festival since the last Creative Industries thematic in 2003, particularly the obvious lack of visual artists and dancers at the festival! (who previously participated as audience members as well). This can be put down to the limitations on lifestyle that the Northern Territory Intervention brings, with its income management restrictions and possibly also sour grapes towards a white audience supposedly celebrating Blakfella culture while tolerating separatist policy.

Also in contrast, there was a whole panel of Aboriginal New Media Artists at the 2003 Garma Festival but this year I was the only one. Granted that we appeared as a group for a special initiative of the Australia Councils New Media Arts Board (which I was a member of, but has since been disbanded) but maybe we can put it down to a lack of interest in the media arts generally? Sad but true.

The highlight for me was spending time at the Dilthan Yolgnuha Healing Place which was set up by local artist Gulumbu Yunupingu, and watching the Bush Sauna process.

the 2010 Garma Festival moves to a new site for 2010 (the mining company owns the original site now). Not only do they lose all the infrastructure built up over all those previous festivals (no mean feat in a remote community), but they will lose the Healing Place site which has so much significance, also featuring a special viewing place for wailing to the stars.

It will be interesting to see the changes.

2010 Garma Festival : 6 - 10 August; Key Forum on Indigenous Education and Training.

Photos: (bottom to top)

- the Red Flag Dancers at the Bunggul ground, opening ceremony

- the outdoor gallery, printmaking exhibition

- logo for the Healing Place

- It was nice to see that they rolled out the 1st Garma Panel that was produced in 2003

- the view from the Healing Place (featuring a great print!), looking towards the festival dining room across the gully

- a forum venue

Links:

Garma http://www.garma.telstra.com/

the Healing Place http://www.healingplace.com.au/

2009 Garma Festival http://www.garma.telstra.com/2009/2009.htm

2003 Garma Festival http://www.garma.telstra.com/2003/forum2003.htm

1st Garma Panel Printmaking Project http://www.garma.telstra.com/2003/garmapanel03.htm

the wellbeing project http://www.wbp.org.au/Home.html

Stop the Intervention http://www.stoptheintervention.org/

International Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference in Darwin, August 2010

2010-02-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

An international gathering of Indigenous Women in Darwin - yay!

this info is taken from their flyer:

Attracting more than 400 delegates from across the world, this exciting and prestigious event promises to generate considerable intellectual dialogue and debate, as well as create opportunities to strengthen existing networks and forge new ones. The conference will coincide with the Darwin Festival providing delegates an opportunity to also enjoy some of our unique cultural and social events. The Larrakia Nation would like to invite you to their country to participate in this important gathering. This inclusive event welcomes all peoples to attend.

Themes:

We are calling for papers and poster presentations by academics, practitioners, leaders and elders that relate to the following five interconnected themes:

Healthy Communities

Strong Families

Traditional Healing and Health

Law and Justice

Education, Training and Enterprise

Call for Abstracts:

Abstracts for paper and poster presentations should not exceed 300 words and should clearly state the main conference theme being explored. Paper presentations will be for 20 minutes duration, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions and discussion. The abstract must be accompanied by full contact details and affiliation of the presenter, a brief biography and a list of special needs for the presentation/poster. Please email your abstract and supporting information (Word or PDF format) by 31st March 2010 to the conference coordinator, Catherine Holmes (catherine.holmes@larrakia.com).

Key Dates:

31st March 2010 – Abstracts due

30th April 2010 – Abstract review complete and presenters notified

31st May 2010 – Early Bird Registration Period Ends

22nd August 2010 – Conference Commences

More information:

Please contact Larrakia Nation +61 8 8948 3733 or Catherine Holmes on +61 419 441 021 or visit the conference website: http://www.larrakia.com/Conference

there's also a group page set up on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=189397714875&ref=ts

imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, Canada

2010-02-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

lmagineNATIVE Film and media Arts Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in downtown Toronto, Canada from October 14 – 18, 2009.

This ground-breaking Festival kicked off with the Honoured Elder Rose Logan (Ojibway) who shared an opening prayer with the crowd. The prayer was followed by a welcome greeting from Bryan Laforme, Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. Included in the opening reception was the beautiful vocal sounds of Rosary Spence, and a performance by the White Pine Dancers, who shared in Iroquoian social song, a smoke dance, and storytelling, along with drum sounds.

The anniversary milestone was also marked through presenting a number of exciting and innovative programming initiatives including: an interactive lecture on the history of Indigenous-produced dramatic film and video by Lakota artist and scholar Dana Claxton; a program of commissioned works by the EMBARGO Collective, a group of Canadian and other international artists who have imposed strict creative limitations on each other to push their filmmaking to new levels; and an international spotlight on Nepal. The festival also featured a line-up of New Media programming tracing the roots of Indigenous online art in the exhibition ‘Code Talkers of the Digital Divide’, curated by Cree Canadian New Media Artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle.

imagineNATIVE continues to support artists and their professional development through its workshops, panels, installations, curated programs and pitch training sessions. On the last night of the festival over $12,000 in awards was handed out to fifteen outstanding artists who were selected by a jury consisting of industry and community leaders, including Cairns-based Torres Strait Islander Sio Tusafa’aaefili who won the Cynthia Lickers-Sage Award for Emerging Talent. Other Indigenous Australians in attendance for imagineNATIVE were Niyikina Actor-Director Mark Coles Smith with Layoordoo (Queen of Twilight Waters), Rima Tamou and Pauline Clague with Embargo Collective Contribution ‘First Contact’, Producer Anusha Duray with ‘Bourke Boy’, Yarning Ups Penny Smallacombe from Darwin, the United Nations Sonia Smallacombe, NITVs Kelrick Martin, Koori Film-maker Richard Frankland with the International premiere of his feature film ‘Stone Bros’, and myself: Murri New Media Artist Jenny Fraser with an animation in the experimental category ‘I am what I YAM’.

This is a quote that I like to use to describe 'I am what I YAM':

What would be the opening chapter of the Kamasutra of plant sex? A good pick would be a description of the numerous ways in which plants arrange their sexual organs: from both sexes in the same flower to sexes separated in different flowers or individuals. One widespread sexual strategy that remains an evolutionary enigma is the production of both male and bisexual flowers in the same plant, which occurs in approximately 4000 species.

-from Science Daily.com

view the 2009 imagineNATIVE catalogue here: http://www.imaginenative.org/upload/iNcatalogue10.pdf

images:

- a White Pine Dancer at the opening ceremony

- Cheryl opens 'Code Talkers of the Digital Divide' (thats me on the right)
Photo by Nadya Kwandibens, Red Works Studio, http://www.redworks.ca/

- still image from the animation 'I am what I yam'

Berry Springs

2009-12-17T00:13:00.000-08:00

the photo that I've used as my profile pic on this blog is taken at Berry Springs, which is 40 minutes drive from Darwin in the Northern Territory

the locals tell me that it was traditionally a womens place

i have tried to find further information about the history and significance of the site, but so far have only seen the "european" version about it being a camp for soldiers during the war

never-the-less it is a feel-good place and we all know about the healing properties of springs all over the world

Berry Springs isn't a really hot spring which I had expected, but definitely not cold water either - just right : )

theres not that many swimming places around Darwin that are safe from crocs, and Berry Springs has croc traps so, aside from being a beautiful oasis hangout, it usually comes with peace of mind

recently it was closed down due to bacteria and while visiting, it had crossed my mind to jump the fence and have a swim anyway.... I'm relieved that I didn't because a few days later a huge croc was found in a trap there!

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2009/10/23/94971_ntnews.html

2009-05-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this new Blog about my research into what I like to call the "Healing Arts". Its a new beginning in many ways and will be an exciting journey...

The purpose of this blog is to serve as a reflective journal in documenting the processes of production, research and also a good way for me to gather thoughts and resources.

I welcome feedback