Category Archives: conference

Ancestry as Fossil

It was a fabulous experience to prepare a conversation for the AFTS 2022 conference in Brisbane.

Inspired by the Flesh to Fossil theme, Lauren and I discussed the idea of ancestry as fossil and thinking of our audience not just ourselves from the very beginning, our discussions began.

Through the course of our preparations, we had zoom conversations, which were transformed into a collaborative slide presentation with pertinent images of our own choice.

At the same time I was conversing with Roselle and Sharon, and finding that in Lauren has a deep understanding of many cultures and backgrounds which she is able to respect in the editing process and was equally helpful to bounce ideas off.

Lauren is a true sister of the Diaspora, as an American in an Australian environment, and our conversations were so interesting for both of us. She has learnt to embrace the feelings of ‘otherness’ she sometimes has as an American, and to see what this gives her as a lens to understanding that process which often disempowers the recipient.

We found the conference itself to be so inspiring, and found that there were some unforeseen challenges during the months of preparation which included the loss of friends and relatives.

This led us to reflect on the portal between this life and the next, and the nearness of ancestors, friends and family gone before us, to help us understand and make those journeys, as well as the role of stories in looking at future and past worlds.

It has been an honour to work with dear Lauren, as well as Roselle and Sharon. And to think we have future collaborations in mind, is just the best feeling. You know a team is a fabulous one, when people wish for a continuation of the journey.

Many thanks to the AFTS conference for providing the opportunity for us to share our thoughts on ways forward in the creation of Australian fairy tales – utilising respect and honouring as lenses, to put our processes of research and storytelling through.

Participants in the AFTS Conference, Brisbane, 2022

So inspired by this conversation, and the response of the audience to our storytelling, analytical and emotive compassionate thinking, we feel that we would further like to develop our presentation into a workshop to inspire others to engage with their ancestry as a source of inspiration – a fossil maybe to give flesh to, but more to breathe respectful soul into, where the ancestors will be happy with us.

Diaspora Fairy Tales

It was brilliant to present with Sharon Orapeling (Botswana) and Roselle Tenefrancia (Philippines) at the recent annual Australian Fairy Tale Conference hosted this year in Brisbane. Many more thoughts on this conference to come, but this is a summary highlight of our presentation.

We began by acknowledging the many nations, of Indigenous Australia before it was colonised.

It was extremely moving for us as we shared the process of collecting our stories from family, community and online, and then followed this with a telling of a story each.

Although we personally felt we could not fully do the stories we chose the justice we hoped for in the time we had to prepare and tell (and we did work on this for several months), and saw all the ways to expand and improve our tellings in the future.

Still from the depths of our hearts, we honoured the past, whilst adapting to the present, our now home country Australia and the diaspora we all found within our identities and that of our families and the time limits we had.

We were very heartened by the reception to our journeys, and the seeds of the stories we could share.

We shared that we are really at the beginning of our journey to excavate and more fully develop the performances of the stories we unearthed in preparing for the conference. And the process we were engaged in was also in itself a process of decolonisation, and reclaiming and reconnecting to our cultures.

Each of us shared language, culture, and a specific story that was meaningful. I specifically shared the words and chant from my mother (Maipa Village, Papua New Guinea), from a lullaby she would sing to us when we (my brothers and I) were hanging in a string bag/ bilum wherever was handy when she worked.

The presentations over the weekend from many other wonderful presenters, thinkers, tellers, artists, educators, and performers, arts workers, psychologists sparked many thoughts for us and have inspired us to think what next?

We thanks the AFTS family for giving us the opportunity to present and the audience for your listening.