Whadjuk Boodjar, 2020-21

Community Arts Network (CAN)

Project Co-ordinator and Designer: Emele Ugavule
Soul Alphabet Producer: Linda Iriza

Rooted in Freedom collaborators: Soul Alphabet
Rooted in Freedom authors: Brieanna Collard, Linda Iriza
Imara Mandred, Vuma Phiri, N’Gadie Roberts, Linnea Tengroth, Noelle Ocen-Odoge
Lisa Watson, Valerie Weyland, Sonia Umubyeyi

Photos: Tasha Faye and Emele Ugavule


Made possible through support from Lotterywest

In 2020, CAN streamlined the Lotterywest Story Street programming to better focus on the needs of specific communities and enhance the sense of cultural safety, connectedness and freedom of self-expression for participants. CAN delivered three Story Street projects – Man On! by Teatro Latinx, Alwatan to Home and Rooted in Freedom – which ran over several weeks and comprised multiple workshops.

A collaboration between Soul Alphabet and CAN, Rooted in Freedom aimed to inspire young bla(c)k women aged between 16 and 28 to honour their freedom and express themselves authentically through the written word. Workshop facilitators Elfie Shiosaki and N’Gadi Roberts, both local writers, sourced inspiration from poems, essays and extracts from maar bidi and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela.

Through poetry writing workshops, participants explored issues including: how race and gender construct the world they live in; experiences of displacement that have hindered their freedom; who has the right to tell personal yet collective stories of displacement and longing for freedom; and how to use language and storytelling to honour their freedom.

This led to the publication of the Rooted in Freedom book, which honours the expressions of Bla(c)k women writers currently residing within the Bibbulmun Nation. This collective body of work navigates the intersections between race, gender, personal narrative and the longing for freedom. Rooted in Freedom is a celebration of Bla(c)k literature, a call for collective liberation and an offering of gratitude to the work of other Bla(c)k women who came before.

CAN and Soul Alphabet launched this collective body of work in early April 2021 at the PCP Gallery within King Street Arts Centre.

The evening was an incredible celebration of the authors. Authors from the book read excerpts from their story and a panel discussed Bla(c)k literature and the process for this project.