“Walk With Us" - Book Launch - Sydney

Walk with Us - Book Launch - Sydney - 01 September 2011 from jagath dheerasekara on Vimeo.

“Walk With Us” - Aboriginal Elders call out to Australian people to walk with them in their Quest for Justice. A sequel to the highly regarded and recommended “This Is What We Said” (February 2010)


Of this book Michael Kirby AC CMG retired judge of the High Court of Australia said, “...these are words that we should hear, that our parliament should hear, that our leaders should hear.” “Walk With Us” is equally informative and important beautifully illustrated, this hard-covered book provides a very important update of recent happenings in the Northern Territory including unsatisfactory changes to the legislation, Elders visit to the United Nations, the recent Australians visit of Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, who flew into Darwin to especially to meet with Aboriginal Elders and leaders from across the Territory. The Commissioner sensed the very, “... deep hurt and pain that they have suffered.” (Darwin May 2011). The High Commissioner has joined other world and Australians leaders in their calling for immediate changes.

This is a complex subject and both books provide an easy way of keeping up to date with what has been happening in the Northern Territory.

In “Walk With Us” you will learn further what Northern Territory Aboriginal people are saying and you will hear their heartfelt plea to the people of Australia. 

Publication Date: 25 August

An order form can be obtained from concernedaustralians.com.au

Text courtesy of the blurb sent out by "the Concerned Australians"
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Jagath Dheerasekara's photography can be seen at www.jd.photoshelter.com

At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art Inc presents "Stars Sky Trees Breeze" : Jagath’s journey 2010 curated by Djon Mundine OAM

At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art Inc presents

Stars Sky Trees Breeze

(Jagath’s journey 2010)

JAGATH DHEERASEKARA

Curated by Djon Mundine

30 June – 17 July 2011

Opening launch, WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE 6-8pm

Stars Sky Trees Breeze (Jagath’s journey 2010)

ATVP celebrates NAIDOC Week with a specially curated exhibition by eminent contemporary aboriginal art curator Djon Mundine OAM.

Stars Sky Trees Breeze’s focal point is a photographic series (of the same title) by Jagath Dheerekara, a Sydney-based documentary and reportage photographic artist of Lankan origin. Dheerasekara has captured a series of makeshift outdoor beds, on an invited stay during 2009 and 2010 with the Alyawarr people in the central Australia’s Ampilatwatja community, Northern Territory.

Ampilatwatja, located 320km northeast of Alice Springs, is home for less than 1000 Alyawarre people. Their struggle to survive 200+ years of colonisation has been complicated further since 2007 by the introduction of the Northern Territory Intervention - of which Ampilatwatja is a prescribed community.

Many in Amplilatwatja consider the intervention as "an invasion, total disempowerment and a revoking of hard won land rights" and in July 2009, Alyawarr elders of Ampilatwatja walked off the prescribed area controlled by the government and camped on Aboriginal freehold land out of the control of the intervention.

"On July 14 2009 we, Elders from the Ampilatwatja community, walked out of our houses and set up camp in the bush. We are fed up with the federal government's Northern Territory Intervention, controls and measures, visions and goals forced onto us from outside. We felt we were outcasts and isolated from all decision making - there has been no meaningful consultation... We therefore have no intention of going back there. We intend to stay here until our demands are met.” Richard Downs, Alyawarr community spokesperson, October 2009.

In Alyawarre Resistance: Back to Country (2009-10) Dheerasekara captured the Alyawarre walk-off and much more …

“My main purpose of being there was to capture the Walk-off. Meanwhile, during my many walks around the community I noticed that almost all Aboriginal families in the community had a makeshift bed in the open air. ” Jagath Dheerasekara.

At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art Inc.
565 King Street Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 9519 2340
0430 083 364
www.atthevanishingpoint.com.au
info@atthevanishingpoint.com.au

Gallery Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 10am-6pm

FREE ENTRY, ALL WELCOME

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Our Generation the film

OUR GENERATION

A DOCUMENTARY FILM BY SINEM SABAN & DAMIEN CURTIS (73 MIN)

From the ongoing controversy of the Northern Territory Intervention,
to being forced off their traditional lands into larger townships crippled by social dysfunction,
to their languages being removed from school education,
to mining deals sidelining traditional owners,
the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory are fighting for freedom.

Our Generation is their untold story; of a struggle hidden from the eyes of mainstream Australia.

THE SHORT VERSION

Hidden from the eyes of the world, Australia’s First Peoples are fighting for freedom. Our Generation is their call to the nation, a fresh and unflinching look at unresolved issues, driven by the Yolngu of Northeast Arnhem Land.

THE MEDIUM VERSION

A rollercoaster journey into the heart of Australia’s Indigenous relations, a hidden shame that is pushing the world’s oldest living culture to the edge. Through the stories of the Yolngu of NE Arnhem Land, the film looks at the Government’s ongoing policies of paternalism and assimilation, examines the real issues underlying Indigenous disadvantage, and opens dialogue on ways forward that respect Aboriginal culture and dignity.

A fresh look at unresolved issues, with music by John Butler Trio, Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Gurrumul, and Goanna.

THE LONG VERSION

The project started out in June 2007, in response to the Howard Government’s controversial ‘Emergency Intervention’ into Aboriginal communities in Australia’s remote Northern Territory. All in the name of ‘protecting children’, the Intervention took away all existing Aboriginal land rights, suspended the Racial Discrimination Act and placed over 70 communities under compulsory government control. Subsequent government measures have had little to do with directly improving the wellbeing of children, but instead have disempowered traditional owners, opened up access to valuable Aboriginal land, and sought to forcibly assimilate Aboriginal culture.

No Aboriginal people living in these communities have had any say in these decisions being made about their lives, their lands and their future. And mainstream media has ignored their voices, and their plight.

In February 2008, the Labor government made a much-publicised National Apology for previous injustices wrought upon the Australia’s First Peoples. Since then, however, it has continued to undermine their human and cultural rights; in particular their rights to have proper access to basic services, to maintain their own languages, to be involved in the decisions that affect them, and to remain living on their ancestral homelands.

On 13th March 2009, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights declared that Australian Government policy was in breach of international law. Following such international shame, the Australian Government quickly endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, only to continue to breach many of its articles in subsequent policies.

The film has developed into a powerful journey into Australia’s indigenous relations, from colonisation until the present day. It looks at Australia’s ongoing policies of paternalism and assimilation, explains the real issues underlying Indigenous disadvantage in this “lucky” country, and upholds the right of First Australians to dignity, culture and empowerment in their own country.

Featuring the voices of youth, men, women and elders from remote communities in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal leaders and personalities from across the country, as well as academics, lawyers and international activists, the film opens the way for dialogue on how Australia can move forward with genuine respect and partnership with its First Peoples. Into a future where solutions come from working together, rather than being dictated from Parliament thousands of kilometres away.

A movement is building across the country to stand up for what is right for the oldest living culture on Earth.

This film is at the heart of that movement.

THE FILM MAKERS

Sinem Saban: Writer, Producer, Director. Sinem has had a lifelong passion for Aboriginal rights. With a degree in Media, Legal and Aboriginal Studies, she has been working in Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, for the last 10 years, as a teacher and human rights activist. Previous filmmaking includes the documentary “I Know I’m Not Alone” (Dir. Michael Franti, 2006) on the human costs of war in Iraq, Palestine and Israel. She also co-wrote and directed the first feature length film made by an Australian school, entitled “Premonition” (2003).

Damien Curtis: Writer, Producer. Damien has been working for the last 10 years in empowering tribal peoples to protect their culture and ancestral lands. His previous experiences include working with indigenous communities in the rainforests of Guyana, the Colombian Amazon and in various parts of Africa, with the Gaia Foundation, UNESCO and others. With degrees in Anthropology and Environment & Development, he is committed to strengthening cultural diversity as the foundation for human and environmental wellbeing.


text extracted from http://www.ourgeneration.org.au/about-2/