Not My Country ~ Spoken Word
"Not My Country"
A collection of poetry and story from my time in central Australia, walking with custodians.
This year I am both stepping into my activism and my creative art form of Spoken Word. Art has an incredible ability to connect us to the heart of it, conveying all the emotions, feelings, senses and uncovering what lies beneath the surface.
Many people are in a time of coming to terms with what it means to be a colonised person on ancient lands, impeding on ancient people with a “modern culture”. This is not a sole journey, but it is a soul journey. So I write about this as a way to share the journey of remembering our way back to our own Indigeneity. Through all the discomfort, the not knowing, the hunger for spirit and the hunger to belong. It is a long journey to take, as we have been colonised for thousands of years.
As uncle Chris says:
“The difference is, you have been colonised for way longer than we have. We still have our culture and language. You’ve lost a lot of that.”
We have lost our ancient culture, but it lives on in our blood, in our cellular DNA. So the question is not what can we take?… the question is… how do we remember?
It is my hope, that in sharing this journey, collecively, we can remember, return to our roots and learn how to grow in harmony with our environment again.
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The Journey
7pm Arrival
I will be sharing some short poems that speak to this inner enquiry of feeling connected to country, and acknowledging it is “Not My Country”. My message is clear, we need to listen to the elders… but we also need to remember our way home to belonging to the Earth again.
After this we will have some live music and reflection time as a little interim.
Then I have a final piece to share that calls us forth into action… as a friend responded: “a call to arms”… in the most peaceful way our hearts know is possible.
After this I will share a little of my desert journey in a live storytelling… then, it is over to you. The space will be open for you to share your own story of connection. We will also have chai and cacao to warm our hearts.
We will be transitioning into community sharing about 8pm.
The night will wrap up about 9pm.
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Venue:
CERES - Learning Centre
Corner Roberts & Stewart Streets, Brunswick East, VIC 3057
Tickets:
Concession $10 I Full $15 I Supporter $25
Generous supporter $35
Support from afar (and receive the album) $10 or more
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About Karla
Hi,
I had the privilege of growing up in remote Australia, on Kamilaroi country. It is these beginnings, in the bush that continue to inform me as I walk through life… mostly barefoot!
Healing is in my bloodline. We may have lost a lot of this knowledge from our ancestors, but in my short life I feel like I have already gone back through the timeline a bit. I began as a Paramedic, then transitioned to Hawaiian healing and on the side learnt about herbalism and alternative medicine from my sisters. Went on my own quest for Shamanic ceremony… then some where in there I got to a point where my soul was calling for something else that I had not found in my ten year quest. I didn’t want to “copy” other cultures and I didn’t want to adhere to modern day spirituality... I didn’t even feel called to be initiated into another culture … so I just started creating my own events, my own ceremonies.
First came Earthdance, which came to me (and my partner at the time) in central Australia, with the basic principles of circle, dance, music and sometimes singing.
Then came the six day women’s gathering in the Kimberley, bringing in these same basic rituals that we as people have been practicing since time began. So it is a journey of remembering our power and our connection as women.
And finally came a collective ToGather, were we come together to ask the difficult questions as “colonisers”, to do our work, to remember our own way home to connection, and walk with the people of country.
Since 2016, I have had the privilege of sitting with First Nations elders in central Australia. These last five years have been an incredible time of humbling, of stripping back, of decolonising. And still, I have so far to go… but I got to a point last year… when I was in central Australia and everyone else (it felt like) was in lockdown. It was a real time of realising the only way forward was together. The hype of indviduality and personal growth can only get us so far. Our ancient roots are in tribal living.
Now I get to gather people in all of these different ways, and I have never felt more in my element. But the thing that makes it most rewarding is when we go right into the heart of the current injustices to the ancient people of this country. They are the grandparents of civilisation, we have so much to learn.
Now that, that is what I take responsibility for… to walk with that message. “It is time, for people of my kind, to listen and learn from oldest living culture on the Earth.”
Location
CERES
Corner Roberts & Stewart Streets, Brunswick East VIC 3057
Contact Details