I know this is cheating – a post without actually saying too much of anything. However I can’t break #blogJUNE before the week is even up, so here it is.
I’m writing this post on my phone while watching Harry Potter, laying on a bed in a hotel room in Melbourne.
Today’s meeting is for a sekrit project that will be soft-launched in coming months. My involvement is as a volunteer, but I’m really excited about it. I really believe this project will be a true force in fostering and empowering Indigenous discourse. It’s exciting stuff and I’m humbled to be asked to lend my hours to such a great project.
I’m staying at the — again. It’s a nice hotel though it’s a little too full of what can only be described as faux-Aboriginal art.
Things that make you go wtf …
Lol. Boy, there's no rest for the wicked…I'd be still getting over WIPCE. Funny re the appropriation of mark-marking or design elements from ABTSI culture, how far is too far? When is a shape just a shape or a curve a curve? What makes 'appropriation' okay? How is it acknowledged? I always enjoyed asked the workers questions like these. There's been lots of example to talk about in textiles and fashion.
Thought of you when I was assessing the juniors with their Cultural Fusion spoken powerpoints last week….one sprung up a slide in her presentation (typically about…what was eaten…where and when) …that said 'discrimination destroys food sovereignty'. Loved it.
Thanks for the questions Flora. I know what you mean. But if you saw the hotel, you wouldn't be able to NOT to see the influence of the desert. I think appropriation is okay, when the original creators knowingly and willingly "give" their designs to "the world". Western Art does that – it's part of the deal – appropriation, influence etc. But for Indigenous people, those designs are regularly taken, not given.