Love is often defined as an intense feeling of deep affection and a great interest in something and/or someone. We love our Old People, our Ancestors, and we want to know more about them so they can be part of our story and life journeys – this is wrapped in an intense Aboriginal love that is not often recognised. It is an Aboriginal love that takes love even further and is shown when we speak about our love for country, culture, family and Old People.
The Aboriginal love I speak of is when we march, write, sing, weave a basket, create art, return to country often and slowly work through colonial archives, even when it breaks our hearts to do so.
Here, I step into parts of my country that other cultural members might avoid, consider taboo and/or may find somewhat difficult to navigate. This is not easy storytelling, and it rarely is when we speak about trauma, family, violence and colonial archives. But one of the ways we can find family love is by sifting through the colonial archive of violence and trauma.
Words by @tjaarmaan and photos by @tamati_the_yamaji and @trevor_pickett_photography in the @theconversation.aunz
