Icon to a stolen child: Buried alive
Julie DOWLING: artist
When I was living with my grandmother, Mollie, I was also teaching art to
young first nation women at the Karawara community centre – Karawara
was a low socio-economic place where we used to live while growing up.
Many of the young women had experienced homelessness from an early
age. Some experienced it by themselves while others were homeless
along with their mothers and other family members.
One woman described how she replaced her culture with rap and hiphop
music and street tagging because it was a way to feel empowered.
She also felt restricted by the culture of the “street”. Street culture took
her from her First Nation culture and she felt “…buried alive” by it. The
young woman equally found it difficult to talk about the void of not
knowing enough about her First Nation culture. She was raised in a
white foster placement who did not think her culture was important to
learn but Afro-American culture was better somehow.
young first nation women at the Karawara community centre – Karawara
was a low socio-economic place where we used to live while growing up.
Many of the young women had experienced homelessness from an early
age. Some experienced it by themselves while others were homeless
along with their mothers and other family members.
One woman described how she replaced her culture with rap and hiphop
music and street tagging because it was a way to feel empowered.
She also felt restricted by the culture of the “street”. Street culture took
her from her First Nation culture and she felt “…buried alive” by it. The
young woman equally found it difficult to talk about the void of not
knowing enough about her First Nation culture. She was raised in a
white foster placement who did not think her culture was important to
learn but Afro-American culture was better somehow.
Title
Icon to a stolen child: Buried alive
Artist/Maker and role
Julie DOWLING: artist
Date
1998
Medium
synthetic polymer paint, red ochre and metallic paint on canvas
Measurements
40.2 x 27.8cm
Credit line
Purchased 1998
© Julie Dowling / Copyright Agency
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1998/0138