Colouring the Rainbow by Dino Hodge

Author:Dino Hodge [Hodge, Dino]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: book, SOC012000, 5S
ISBN: 9781743051627
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Published: 2015-11-11T13:00:00+00:00

OutBlak Adventures

Violet Buckskin, Naomi Hicks, Tempestt Sumner-Lovett, Kym Wanganeen, Raymond Zada

OutBlak Adventures was a performance project exploring personal, funny and moving stories of coming out and what’s it like to be different in and out of family. The show was created by eight performers and artists from South Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay, lesbian community, together with family members. They are Chris Bromley, Violet Buckskin, Naomi Hicks, Liz Hurrell, Tempestt Sumner-Lovett, Kym Wanganeen Raymond Zada, Claudine Buckskin, Violet’s mother, and Naomi’s children and nieces. The nations of the performers include Gunditjmara. Kaurna, Latji Latji, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri and Wirangu.

The show was mounted in 2010 as part of Feast, Adelaide’s Queer Cultural Festival, and featured song, storytelling, dance, drag, theatre, visual art and multi-media. As well as the Feast performances, it toured country South Australia, to Murray Bridge, Barmera, Whyalla and Port Augusta. OutBlak Adventures was a national first.

This chapter has been contributed by five of the eight performers, in collaboration with Margie Fischer, the project mentor.

Kym Wanganeen

OutBlak Adventures gave me the freedom to speak from the heart. I felt liberated speaking to a room full of friends, family and strangers. It took a lot of courage for us eight performers to travel around regional South Australia talking openly as Aboriginal people about our sexuality and sharing our joys and struggles. For some of those who know us, it was the first time they had heard some of our most inner thoughts and experiences that only being Aboriginal Gay and Lesbian could bring. What stands out the most for me during the OutBlak Adventures tour is how we were like one big family, bonding in a way that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I felt a real connection between each of us performers, a refreshing realness and understanding.

For the opening in Murray Bridge, I rang my Aunty Mum (God Bless) and asked her permission to speak about the suicide of a very close and immediate family member. I was passed onto the eldest brother, and explained that nothing identifying would be said. I explained also that it was important to mention the suicide in the show, as there may be someone watching that could be contemplating suicide or someone in the audience who may know of someone that is feeling that way. As I spoke to him, I was crying down the phone in the dressing room. He said to me that if it will help anyone not to go down the same path, then it was okay to speak about it.

My Aunty’s choir was opening our show with a Welcome to Country performance. Seeing her sitting in the front row and seeing me open the show was nerve-racking to say the least. I had to not look at her in the front row because I knew if I did I would of broke down crying on stage, and I had to focus on an empty seat near the back row every time I looked toward the audience.

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