TRANSCRIPT
Warren Mason is a storyteller. He says his creativity embodies his 'people and culture' which was removed from its roots.
"I grew up as a little white boy in town with dark dark skin, my dad was shining black. And we just participated in everything. I suppose being dark skinned and participating in things like Pony Club, and going to church and all that sort of stuff was different for us."
Growing up in a small community in north west New South Wales, Warren's grandfather made the decision to sign an 'exemption certificate'. It's something he says inspires his art - a performance of mixed mediums incorporating motion graphics, spoken word, and hip hop music. Warren says it was a choice his grandfather made to live a mainstream Australian life.
"So the exemption certificate was signed to not be aboriginal, not be participating in culture, not to be speaking language, not to be telling cultural stories going forward. The healing scars things for me is trying to retrace who I am where I come from, what that means my life moving forward and my kids. I missed out on culture. I missed out on connection to country. I missed out on all those things that come with being First Nations."
Warren is participating in the Biennial Yellamundie Festival - which he sees as a platform to reconnect with an identity he never knew. Now in its tenth year, the festival aims to create a platform for Indigenous artists to connect and share stories. Held over three days in September, the Sydney festival showcases a range of live performance art forms, providing development opportunities for Playwrights, Composers, and Choreographers.
Festival Director Lily Shearer says the festival has changed a lot since it began 10 years ago.
"We have a unique market niche. It's the only first peoples-led development festival in Australia that is run by a First Nations company Moogahlin Performing Arts, that is all first nations led. You know all our storytellers. Everybody is first peoples. It wasn't like that 10 years ago, we had quite a number of not first peoples working with us. Producers, dramaturgs, directors."
Out of a national poll of 28 submissions, six performative stories have been selected through a panel of judges.
Since 2013, the festival has also become an international showcase for First Nations talent - attracting storytellers from around the world.
Ms Shearer says storytelling can break barriers.
"Those exchanges are really important to us as colonised countries. A lot of our trauma comes through our stories, and that is healing for our people and that makes our people stronger. Also it helps build relationships with non Aboriginal people to understand our point of view where we're coming from. I think that's really, really important."
For dance artist Peta Strahan, the festival is place for her to embrace her people.
"I really wanted to highlight the beauty and the strength of our women from Darro country and how they would go out on the Jannawis and have their babies on the back and they had their little clay pot firebowls and they would just cook the fish straight up for the babies and I just think that those women our ancestors were incredible. Skills and athleticism like that they would have had on the Jannawis so just really wanted to honour our ancestors through the Jannawi dance."
Ms Shearer says she's proud of how far the festival has come, but more investment is needed to ensure it can continue in the future.
"Our biggest struggle is finding major sponsors for a Yellamundie Festival. It's a big project, we can only do it every two years. Otherwise we'd be flat out. And it's always constantly looking for that funding to put Yellamundie festival on. And I think you know, we're in the 21st century. And our stories are really important because of our relationship to to country and to this great south land that we now call Australia. And I think you know, it's time some big investors throw some dollars our way."
But overwhelmingly, the storytellers say they're just proud to tell their stories. Warren Mason says the stage is his voice.
"We can get stuck in a situation where everyone thinks they knows what's going on. But each individual person has a story. Each individual person has a right to tell a story and have their truth heard. Like everyone's truth is different. I've been given an opportunity to tell my truth, what I feel is my truth. And I'm very privileged and honoured to be in this space doing that. My voice is my story. That's where it is for me. I tell my story from my voice."
