On International Women's Day 2021, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair artistic director Janina Harding delivered a powerful message.
I had lunch with friends the other day, others would consider them former colleagues, but to me they are friends for life, because we all share a rare sensibility - we care.
It doesn’t take much to be my friend, you can come from any background, you just have to be honest, passionate and see life through a collective lens.
During lunch I was asked by one male friend,” Are you a feminist?”.
I really didn’t have a quick answer, i.e. yes or no, so I took my time answering.
What ran through my mind at that moment, was not about equity and justice for women, but equity and justice for our people.
As a Meriam/Kuku woman who has worked in a united front for this Nation’s First Peoples’, feminism is hard for me to relate to.
To me, feminism is a white thing. I don’t have the luxury of thinking about equity for women’s pay, job security, or voice.
Sure, I have had to insist that my voice be heard, like any one of us First Peoples. It’s simply part of our struggle.
I thank my ancestors, and in particular my mother, Eleanor Harding, for giving me a deep pride in culture, history, identity and place.
But I also thank my trade union communist father, Jack Harding (Scottish/Welsh) who gave me a beautiful sense of existing as a collective. All these attributes define me, not my gender.
I work tirelessly for all of my people, so they can have a career or simply put bread and milk on the table or be able to buy that car or a boat, so they travel to and from their homelands.
Our lives continue to be under government policies, which inevitably restricts our freedom whether we’re incarcerated or not. These issues are way more important to me than gender equality.
Throughout my 30 year career in the arts, I have consistently broken down the status quo, smashed the stereotype and helped our people find a voice.
So ,to describe a time I chose to challenge, I would say, I challenge every day. The issues we face as blak people are a matter of life and death and I am lucky to be alive.
To me, my time is limited, my mortality rate is not equal to non-Indigenous women. My beef is not about equality/equity for woman, though that would be great, and that needs to happen immediately.
My motivation rests with my people, and collectively our lives are challenged every day.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair will take place from August 17 to 22. Head here for more.