POWER TO THE PEOPLE: ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

A week spent in Alice Springs has opened my eyes more than any amount of textbooks ever could in a lifetime.

During my visit I spent time with local aboriginal artists, a dialysis centre that worked to alleviate the strain of travel and separation from family, and individuals who opened their homes and taught traditional cooking and stories. Each visit opened my eyes to a different aspect of aboriginal existence and the challenges they are currently facing.

Papunya, a small remote village famous for the art produced and shipped globally. Here I witnessed first hand the love and effort that went into creating the mesmerising designs that have become world famous. Women would sit on the floor surrounded by tins of paint, painstakingly applying each dot onto the canvas to create a mural that tells a story of their history.

The Purple House was a dialysis centre that catered to aboriginal who would normally face 3, 5 hour trips a week to receive treatment. Each visit pulls them further from their communities, their home land and everything that is familiar. Aboriginals are highly susceptible to diabetes, obesity and kidney failure due to the introduction of sugar from the English and the rapid change of lifestyle and diet that has been forced upon them.

Each experience provided an insight into aboriginal existence, it showed in all its colours the struggles they are facing as a community and what responsibilities were falling upon