her voice still clearly in my head:
i think this business of self.
is being.
and self criticism.
not being existentialist nor essentialist.
but being, in agency.
centre through decentre.
3weeks ago, i quietly went alone to Black2BLAK2
nsw aboriginal visual arts conference
campbelltown arts centre
djon mundine speaking in opening
opened the intended meaning of Black2BLAK2
and i paraphrase again, as i have been consistently doing in the last 3weeks:
all the people speaking during this conference are aboriginal.
all questions and comments from the floor are to come from aboriginal people.
this is our chance to explain our selves to our selves.
if you are not aboriginal, you can listen.
in plain english - 'shut the fuck up'.
i don't think anything is lost in translation here.
it was so ordinary.
so calm. so colloquial.
spoken in such an understated way, that it completely normalized the claiming of space and the right to do so, with such casual ease.
yet the space was open.
reality check.
reality check to smooth out the knots.
slow the running round in circles.
the jumping through metaphorical hoops.
i think it was the voice of a large brown woman, saying to me in the early hours, inbetween asleep and awake:
i think this business of self.
is being.
and self criticism.
