Buying Blak

By Tabitha Lean & Colin Herring

There are so many ways to be an awesome ally this Reconciliation Week, and all year through. Anything from turning up for mob and weaponising whatever privileges you have access to, getting to know which Aboriginal nation you live and study on, to listening to and centring First Nation voices and knowledges, and respecting our view points.

But you can also give very practical support by ‘buying blak’ – by this we mean supporting Aboriginal owned businesses!

So, here’s a very small list of some deadly businesses to get you started:

Marra Dreaming

Haus of Dizzy

Gillawara Arts

Wunyun Indigenous Healing

Dilly bag by Milan Dhiiyaan

And, with the (very necessary) restricted access to remote Aboriginal communities due to COVID-19, community-controlled arts centres and artists are doing it tough. Some have outlets in cities and most do online sales. If you can, check out what’s on offer.

Here’s a few of our favourites:

Martumili

Tjanpi Desert Weavers

APY Gallery

With winter coming, and the APY Lands still being on lockdown, people haven’t been able to do their usual winter-shopping trip, so if you cleaned out your cupboards and wardrobes over the past weeks of lock down, the APY Art Centre Collective has offered to collect jumpers, blankets and jackets that can be sent to the Lands just in time for those chilly desert nights

And of course, when Covid-chaos has subsided, you could head to Tandanya to experience some beautiful art on display, or take a drive to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre to learn about Kaurna culture and share in the special environment of peace that exists at Warriparinga.

And at the end of the day curl up in bed with Melissa Lukashenko’s new book ‘Too much lip’, or Natalie Harkins beautiful poetry anthology, or cruise IndigenousX online for updated news and views from Aboriginal people….

Feature image by Haus of Dizzy