7SOG Flashcards
Photograph story
Woman describes room in ‘parents house’ w ‘trophies’ ‘pennants’ and ‘members of weddings, birthdays (…) and family visits’
(Strong family not defined by victimhood)
-monuments to the ‘good times’
-celebration against western standards/ indigenous people have excelled— joy +pride
-celebration of life +family/ hinted at it in previous scene w nana’s funeral
-nana’s photo removed from wall reveals grief is so common the family have a clear process for dealing with it
-interconnection b/w family, pride, laughter, sorrow throughout whole play reps multiplicity of experiences of grief
Woman delivers court report about death in custody with ‘no hint of emotion’
‘Finally breaks out’ + recounts events in voice of court +her own to explain ‘his condition aroused immediate concern’
Eventually describes ‘limp body’ before he is ‘pronounced dead’
-scene= switch to dispassionate tone of court report
-woman’s voice breaks in most difficult +emotional parts
-emotional distancing measures helped her tell her stories but she cannot hide her grief/ pain (shows movement along the 7 stages is constant)
-flat, disconnected monotone +hard facts of vockes story —highlights the apathy + brutality w which he has to content in his final moments (link with prologue LM)
Plea
‘The woman places the suitcase down at the feet of the audience’
Walking across bridges
‘so many people’/ ‘we can’t go back now’
-suitcase to audience=shift of responsibility/ woman carried suitcase alone now audience have witnessed her pain + now have a responsibility to carry it/ share the burden
-emphasizes the need to change the racism +oppression which caused the baggage
-additional scene depicting 2000’s walk for reconciliation reflect evolution of play to reflect aus society
-bridge walk =optimism for reconciliation/healing
Ext- 2021 performance= another scene to end bc X as hopeful following BLM movement 2020 + anniversary of deaths in custody report
Aunty Grace marries an ‘Englishman’ + moves to ‘London’
Woman, dad and nana participate in ‘peaceful’ + ‘silent’ protest March
-AG = manifestation of ppl who assimilate w oppressor
-England/ London = home of empire but AG embraced it tf abandoned family/culture/ identity
2nd- family participate in peaceful March in scene after vockes court report— draws on audiences knowledge of ATI deaths in custody + reference to ‘police camera’ increased fear but makes bravery of resistance more admirable
-ice block continues to melt- audience reflect on their capability + see urgency of change is needed
Nana’s death — stories of ‘life’, ‘traditions’ + ‘heritage’ lost
Her photo ‘quietly’ put in the suitcase
-suitcase= symbol/represents transition, memory, family, connection, aboriginal knowledge
-suitcase = visual representation of everyday trauma/overt + subtle
-suitcase = performance device/ rep transition, memory + connects aboriginal knowledge + culture, fam structure + spirituality
-nana’s photo removed from the wall reveals grief is so common that family have a process for dealing w loss
Suitcase= visual rep of everyday trauma both overt + subtle
Black skin girl
‘The letters of the alphabet appear on her dress’
The woman ‘tires’
She ‘attempts to evade the letters’
- language is a weapon/ key tool to oppress
At first childlike game but woman becomes increasing uneasy - transformation from joy to panic = confronting for audience
- woman sings in her own language as she painfully attempts to protect herself from her oppressors
-contrast btwn English alphabet + woman’s resistance highlights tension b/wn violence of colonizers + strategies of resistance - left vulnerable with branding of Z + no clothes
- language = key tool of communication/ internal colonization is facilitated
- taking away motherlang — restricts the ability to think
Gallery of sorrow ‘collection of images’ depict the ‘phases of aboriginal history’ including images of ‘protection’
Images vary in diff performances but typically include regulation of residence, slavery as employment, marriage, social life + other aspects of daily life
-play= didactic experiential learning process
-multi medial projected installation/ performance utilizing a range of dramatic strategies
-cements links bwn 7 phases of aboriginal history + 5 stages of grieving
-Australia used guise of ‘protection’ to assume control over indigenous Australians lives + systematically replaced their culture w Brit culture
-decimation of IA culture occurred incl whole languages — ab aus=
Even think in English
-ultimate colonization= controlling thoughts
