The Taken

David G. Jones

Description

A journey into the soul of our ‘humanity’ through a series of empathetic photos concerning the Stolen Generation. Imagery that depicts loss, sadness and hope. Images that reflect through the use of symbols a sentiment that words seem unable to convey! Images that bridge the gap between endless written reports and human emotion, that touch the core of our being.

Sujets

• Photographie
• Photographie
• Photography

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 13 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369491805
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

From 1910’s to 1970’s under government legislation(s) children/babies were taken from their families, they became a “Stolen Generation”.

The rationale for the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents was part of a broad policy framework known as assimilation.

Many children from the Stolen Generations suffered extreme physical, psychological and sexual abuse living under state care. Children were forced to reject their culture and adopt a new identity, They had to wear a figurative ‘mask’, a ‘white mask’ to hide their Aboriginality and an induced sense of shame.

– these are ‘ The Take n’





‘De nobis fabula narrator’

(About us is the story told)



Copyright © 2023 by David G. Jones. 847474

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.


Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
AU Local: 02 8310 8187 ([phone] from outside Australia)
www.xlibris.com.au


ISBN: Softcover 979-8-3694-9179-9
Hardcover 979-8-3694-9181-2
EBook 979-8-3694-9180-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023909488



Rev. date: 07/12/2023



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
The author wishes to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to the land, culture and community. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work, and where the book was written. We acknowledge the cultural diversity of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and pay respect to Elders past, present and future. We celebrate the continuous living cultures of First Nations





“…Let’s speak together, let our minds come together! Learning from the experiences of our ancestors, let us together create knowledge for all that benefits all…”

Kailash Satyarthi (Nobel Peace Prize winner 2014



‘Haud ignota loquor’

(I speak not of unknown things)







Dedicated to those without a voice.

“Voice”
“…wish, choice. or opinion openly or
formally expressed…
…right of expression…”

Merriam Webster









TAKEN
“1. To gain possession of (something) by force or effort,
2. to appropriate or steal….”

The New Collins Concise Dictionary





FOREWORD
I am a survivor. This simple statement while clear gives little context without even greater clarity both in words and images. This book seeks to give its readers such an insight.
I am a survivor of the Stolen Generation and I’m also a proud and determined Gunditjmara Woman and Elder. When I was first approached by David to participate in his photographic work, I was resistant in that I am not confident for a non-Aboriginal person to seek to capture what is in essence my most intimate and private journey. It was David’s humanity and considered care that persuaded me.
The images and subtle yet powerful poetry moved me in such a way I had never experienced before. As an Aboriginal Australian and survivor, I had never felt more understood. I was so moved by David’s work that I immediately sent him an email. Writing through tears of relief, compassion and joy, I wrote, ‘ You have given me a permission to actually ‘’see myself’. Not how society bends me, constructs me for either ridicule or pleasantries, but actually see me.. myself in such a poignant and autonomous way. This brings tears.
It has taken years for us Aboriginal people to escape the confines and tropes of racial vilification, marginalisation and ignorance. We are coming into our own in our country that was once taken through violence, and later policies that tore families apart, including mine. Despite this we are seeking the path to healing. This work by David is an intimate part of this endeavour. I only hope that through his camera lens and words you see us too. In all of our hopes, dreams, strength and beauty. For we are like you, wanting and reconciling the truth, healing from the past. Raising our families and living through our cultures, respecting and loving this beautiful country. This can only be fully achieved when we first start ‘seeing’ each other.
Wurruk
Charmaine Clarke, Gunditjmara Elder




PREFACE
‘THE TAKEN’ is in many ways a journey, a journey into the soul of humanity. I include the words of Nelson Mandela, not because of who he was, but because of what he said, …the turning of suffering into hope!
Photos realized are with the kind permission of very special people, people who have suffered and still suffer, both from scars of the past and from prejudice and ignorance today.
Jake Goodes said that the hurt inflicted by being “taken” not only impacts those who were actually removed from family and culture but is generational, the effect can be passed on in the form of dysfunctionality, endemic in peoples torn apart by separation. He was so right, this perspective gave me a broader view of those I sought to photograph.
The photographs themselves are confronting, I have attempted to portray an imagery that depicts loss, sadness and hope. When Uncle Murray said to me that he thought (hoped) that “these [the photos] could succeed where words have failed”, I knew I was doing the right thing.
The images are set up and posed in order to create the desired effect, normally I photograph what is there, in this case the “there” was emptiness, I have filled that emptiness with symbols of meaning.
Some symbols I have used may seem somewhat obscure, in the words of Gene Wolfe, “We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges.”
I have used a white mask to portray the ‘mask’ put on by both the forced removal from culture and the inherent shame of aboriginal culture that was engendered by colonial ignorance, not only ignorance of a unique culture but also the unwillingness to learn or understand that culture. It represents the ‘face’ that these people were compelled to wear!



The colour blue resonates around us, from the sky above to the surrounding oceans, themselves symbolic of conscious and subconscious, known and unknown, what we understand and what we don’t ! Subjects draped in blue bring I think a deeper and poignant reality.
I have placed a doll in order to bring forward the fact that those who were taken were dressed as mannequins in a world that they did not understand, a world that did not understand them, be it as tiny babies or children, ‘this is what you wanted me to be!’
The Bible is a symbol of our integrity and our moral code, we claim to adhere to ethical precepts and principles, but do we uphold them for all?
Throughout the Old and New Testament, our call to do justice is clear. “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute,” (Psalm 82:3). “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow’s cause,” (Isaiah 1:17).
The Australian flag is included in a number of photos as this symbolizes ‘Government’, not the colonial power we are so quick to blame but the government of Australia, our Government! The flag is frayed at the edge, a subtle nod (or not so subtle) to the human values so frayed when dealing with our indigenous people.
In some photos an eagle is in the background, watching, this is Bunjil the creator, such an important figure in Aboriginal culture, past present and time to come, an Ancestor yes but also I believe an emissary of the creation of a new future, one of acceptance and understanding.
Poetry , in itself shrouded in symbolism, is interspersed throughout in order to enhance the deeper feeling, a cerebral link, words laid down in layers both direct and allegorical, song-lines if you like between every- where and every-when.
This book has evolved from what started as a simple series of portraits, which in the beginning seemed enough, however I could not escape the need to put those portraits into time and place, and did so with very loose, informal chapters.
There are of course the portraits themselves, later I include stories behind those faces, visceral accounts that led to formatting of the photos. Stories from the shadows produced photos from the umbra, and in the pall of sadness, composition of verse.
‘The Wik’, represent not only the cultural connection of Song-Lines but also the resilience of cultural survival, adaptation to change.



‘The People’, characterises what was taken, for it is here that a culturally unique people emerge from the dust of obscurity.
‘The Culture’ itself was also Taken, an ancient culture that was not understood and as such snubbed. How fortunate for us that it has to some degree survived.
‘The Land’ – so integral to the whole, both the Every-where and the Every-when. In the words of Professor Victoria Grieves on Aboriginal spirituality, “…whereby people, the plants and animals, landforms and celestial bodies are interrelated”
‘The Future’ – what can I say but this is indeed in our hands! It is up to us. Being fortunate to have attended the first ‘Youth Treaty Forum’ held in Warrnambool Victoria in 2022, without fail the young p