Toongkateeyt

(2017)

Land taken, sold off, cleared, and settled.

For First Nations peoples, the colonisation of Australia attempted to sever us from Country, culture, and community. Sacred sites were buried beneath concrete. The lines that once guided us across the land were interrupted by roads, fences, and property lines. Places we knew became unrecognisable, and yet, our connection never disappeared.

Toongkateeyt speaks to the deep and unbreakable interconnectedness of land and identity. The work layers photographs taken across Gunditjmara, Djab Wurrung, and Wathaurung Country, unconventionally mapping place and time, while following the landscape through several generations of my family, both before and after colonisation. In these layers, lifetimes merge. Destruction becomes visible. Traces of colonial interruption sit beside the quiet resilience of what still remains.

Through this process, Toongkateeyt reveals that connection to Country is not just remembered, but is lived. It endures despite the violence of dispossession, and belonging persists, carried through the land, story, and the act of return.