Sydney Elders: Continuing Aboriginal Stories

In 2016 I was asked by the State Library of New South Wales to curate a project for the redevelopment and launch of their new exhibition spaces. While being briefed on the significance of the library I considered how its collection represents Aboriginal communities and how Aboriginal communities would want to be represented. In order to understand and negotiate these notions of representation and the relations of power they create and reflect, I thought about how our communities self-represent, where community knowledge accumulates and is maintained, and who we go to for our stories. Within this context elders are familiar anchor points. They are to whom we go for knowledge, and in doing so they continually connect us to our past while strengthening our future. Indeed, within our communities our elders are our libraries.