A NOTE FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER

I’ve been thinking deeply about how often First Nations communities, our voices, stories and issues are spoken for, and misrepresented, by those with power to speak to the masses.

I’ve been witnessing what is happening at a micro, local level and globally. What are the repercussions when those with a platform to speak to many, share skewed uninformed information affecting a whole society’s understanding of marginalised peoples? We’ve witnessed the damage that silencing and censorship has on mob over and over again, ever since the beginning of colonisation of these lands. Terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) was the legal concept used by the British government to justify the settlement of Australia. Since then, we’ve continued to experience a multitude of injustices, removal of basic human rights and increased, relentless racism due to the untruths told about us and our communities.

White Lies interrogates these injustices, lays it out openly and uses humour to process the insanity, hypocrisy and the violence. We’ve gathered all the misinformation and disinformation, and presented it on the stage for you to decide what you can see, what you consider to be real, what isn’t and what remains hidden.

I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who has been part of this process; Tara, Bella, Karlia, Frankie, Ash, Serina, Jen, Sam, Geoffrey, Anna, Frances, Samakshi and Maddy, thank you for your openness and commitment to help reveal what this work needed to be.

To my dear friends Maddy and Frankie at GUTS, thank you for being two of my all time favourite dance allies, fiercely walking the talk in everything you do and your whole hearted belief in my voice as a choreographer and in this work. Lastly but most importantly, thank you to Darumbal Country where I first seeded the idea and thank you to Arrernte Country where the developments took place. Country has a generous and powerful way of teaching and holding us as we continue our Cultural responsibilities and I’m so glad I was here in Mparntwe to realise this work.

- Katina Olsen