“I was brought to this life by Wiradjuri Mother and Father and born at Wiradjuri Country, Parkes District Hospital in 1974. Parkes is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. Adopted as a baby, our family began our life story on Dharug country in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. Just a few years before my birth, Aboriginal people were classified as Native Flora and Fauna. I moved to Gadigal land, Sydney at a young age where I spent most of my young adult life exploring the wonders the world had to offer. Growing up I would see images of Aboriginal people on the TV sniffing petrol, shouting profanities, unwashed and with uncared for homes, it was never explained to me how our people came to be like this, the deaths, the Stolen Generation, the stolen land, the slavery, the rape, the incarceration, the loss of language and the intergenerational trauma and racism to follow for hundreds of years later. My school never taught me about the other side of Aboriginal, the deep connection to Country, a sustainable life, lore, languages, art, ceremony, tools, flowers , food, Dream Time, Totems, family. I returned to Dharug and Gundungurra land, the Blue Mountains where I purchased my first home. I created Bilingarra, Indigenous Art & Culture, an authentic Aboriginal space for The Blue Mountains and have since returned to live on Wiradjuri country and reopened my gallery at Lithgow. Growing up, both at school and at home I had very little to do with being Aboriginal. I had next to nothing as far as learning about the culture of the people who came before me. As a mature adult, I took my self on a journey to explore what it means to be Aboriginal, to unlearn what I had been told and relearn with truth and share my learnings through my art. My connection to culture and a deep sense of being grounded began when I started painting. I’m loving learning more about the brilliance behind our thousands of years of culture and taking community along with me as I grow