Illustration
Aboriginal Affairs
2025
Aboriginal Affairs work in partnership with Community to influence Government, ensure accountability, and drive positive change through the NSW Government’s OCHRE initiative. Their focus is on creating partnerships for economic growth and strengthening cultural identity and language through creating and maintaining effective Aboriginal community governance.
Aboriginal Affairs is committed to connecting, listening, and advocating, to lead accountability and change across Government, while contributing to the broader community.
The Aboriginal Affairs team behind their Digital Songlines Project, reached out to Yirra Miya to create an artwork encapsulating the important work being done through the Digital Songlines Project. The project aims to digitalise files and information that hold vital information which highlight and document the movement of the Stolen Generations.
This artwork needed to be respectful, whilst also mindful of the journey and history of our First Nations people across NSW who were, and are still, impacted by the Stolen Generation.
Lauren met with the team to understand the project on a deeper level and understand the sensitive complexities that come with telling the story of the Digital Songlines Project.
Through thorough consultation, Lauren created an artwork that intertwined knowledge shared, but also reflected on personal experience, having worked and learned from so many people impacted by the Stolen Generation.
This artwork reflects the healing process behind the Digital Songlines project. This artwork is to inspire and encourage meaningful conversations and an understanding that through finding identity and information regarding the Stolen Generations that healing is not linear.
In the background of the centre of the artwork is a water ripple to represent the ongoing effects of the Stolen Generation, but also the healing process that our community walks through on this journey. It also represents that the smallest action can have the biggest impact. Through the records being digitalised and information becoming more accessible to community, this will influence our community and Country for decades to come. This process allows First Nations families to understand their identity in more depth and also helps the wider community understand the detrimental implications that this moment in history holds for our First Nations Community.
Across the artwork are different meeting places, similarly placed to represent the areas where our children were taken and the paths they travelled across New South Wales. The Songlines connecting each of these places show that throughout this journey, our children were misplaced, removed from Country, Community and Identity. The singular journey lines reflect the healing process that those seeking information may find themselves on. It is never a linear process, it may be a challenging and hard road to walk, but when we are connected to Community and land, we can find where we belong and reconnect to those parts of our identities we thought were lost.
Throughout the artwork are people symbols connected by journey lines on each side of the artwork representing how through connection to others and sharing knowledge that is as vital as the Digital Songlines, we can only grow stronger, walking this path together and elevating each other in our healing processes.
The eucalyptus leaves represent traditional healing and connection to land – that when we as First Nations people are on Country, we are connected and strong. Eucalyptus is commonly used in smoking ceremonies to cleanse people before their journeys – similarly in this artwork, it is a reminder that to walk on this healing journey, we need to cleanse and connect with those around us.
Along the bottom of the artwork are layers of Country to represent the different lands across New South Wales that our children travelled and where they came from. The first layer has emu tracks to represent not only the movement of our children, but also the journey they took home and the journey that others are walking to reconnect with their identity and community. The next layer has footprints walking across the artwork to represent the journey that Survivors have walked and the impact of the Stolen Generation, with the loss of childhood, years with family, cultural connection and community-based belonging. Through walking this journey, Survivors are taking back autonomy of their own stories, one step at a time.
Below these layers of Country are goanna tracks, to represent connection to native fauna and how our people relied and still rely so heavily on the land. When Country is well, we are well. In the left corner of the artwork are kangaroo tracks to represent that through processing information and understanding the pain of the past, we continue to move forward, no matter what direction that may be (kangaroos cannot move backwards).
At the top of the artwork are more Country lines with the first layer being people, representing those that have been impacted by the past, but also those in the future who will find more information about their identity, their communities and families and acknowledges that every person’s experience through healing is different. The layer above holds stars to represent the important guidance that our Elders and Ancestors provide to us on this healing journey. We reflect on their hardships, understand how history impacted them and in turn impacts us. They are always guiding us through life.
This artwork is a testament to our people, our resilience and connection to land. It is also a reflection of the work that the Aboriginal Affairs team are doing in creating a space where these records are accessible and the process it holds in helping our people heal, connect back with Country, connect with Community and of course highlighting that this journey is not an easy one to walk.
Lauren loved her time working with the Aboriginal Affairs team to create an artwork and elements that would be utilised across their website and file records. This project was one that included highlighting and understanding the complexities of the trauma that our First Nations people have had to endure in this Country. It was also an opportunity to create a piece that encapsulated the healing journey of the work being done and understand the cultural load our Community has carried and will continue to carry for generations to come.
Lauren reflects on her time working on this artwork as being a moment where you must learn to sit uncomfortably to understand how much of a positive impact the Digital Songlines Project will have for NSW Community accessing information and files to put the missing pieces together of their families and communities.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following website may contain images, video and voices of deceased persons.