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Elders and Forebears Gallery

Aunty Gayle Rankine (1956 – 2019)

Photograph of a linocut print. In the foreground, in black, is an older Aboriginal woman with short hair, squinting a little as she gazes off into the distance. Only her head in depicted, and it overlaps with a ticket with the words "First Peoples Disability Network" written on it. In the background is red and yellow lines and dots in the style of traditional First Nations artwork.

By Larissa MacFarlane

Aunty Gayle was a Ngarrindjeri woman born in Raukkan (Point McLeay Mission) on Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. She was a leading voice for Aboriginal people with disability and in 2014 was the founding Chairperson of the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN). She represented Australia and the FPDN at the United Nations in Geneva and New York, and was also elected the inaugural Chairperson of the Global Network of Indigenous People. Throughout her life she threw a spotlight on the high rates of disability in the Aboriginal communities, resulting from poor health care and nutrition, exposure to violence and psychological trauma, substance abuse and the breakdown of traditional community structures.
 
As a while settler Australian with a ABI, I am acutely aware of the disproportionately high incidence of brain injury (and other disability) experienced by Indigenous peoples as a result of colonialism, incarceration and racism. Gayle and the evidence she leaves behind, including the First Peoples Disability Network, has helped me better understand the intersectional impacts of ableism and racism. 
A black and white linocut print featuring an older woman with long hair and glasses holding up a sign that says "Spastic Society opposses women. The letter "s" is made to look like the lightning bolts in the SS Nazi symbol.

Lesley Hall (1954 – 2013)

Lesley was a feminist disablity advocate and leader in the Disability and Workers Right’s movements since the 1970s. She trained and worked as a teacher, and worked in numerous community and arts organisations.
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Black and white linocut print. In the foreground is a man wearing a striped polo-shirt. He has a big toothy smile. Behind him a small crowd of people, including two wearing police hats and people with cameras. They are looking down at two people lying together on a mattress in an intimate embrace, wrapped in a blanket.

“Honeymoon Protest” – Martin Stewart

This image is inspired by the Honeymoon protest (1988) of Martin Stewart and his then wife Helen. Martin is a disability activist and disabled workers rights advocate.
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