Resistance Songs

Also known as ‘Ancestress’, Teila Watson is a BirriGubba and Gangulu writer, poet, singer, and performer whose art practice revolves around climate change, ecological and social sustainability and therefore the importance of Land Rights and First Nations sovereignty.

Steven Oliver is a descendant of the Kukuyalanji, Waanyi, Gangalidda, Woppaburra, Bundjalung and Biripi peoples. He studied at the Aboriginal Music Theatre Training Programme in Perth and from there was accepted into the Music Theatre Programme at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

Upon his return to Queensland he took on the role of Assistant Artistic Director with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in Brisbane. He has worked with companies such as Yirra Yaakin Noongar Theatre, Kooemba Jdarra Theatre, La Boite Theatre, JUTE Theatre Company, Kite Theatre and the Queensland Arts Council.

He has had showings of his musical Black Queen Black King as part of Queensland Theatre Company’s Creative Development Series in Association with Playlab and also at the Brisbane Powerhouse for their World Theatre Festival Program. He has also been a Queensland state finalist twice in Brisbane and national finalist for the Australian Poetry Slam at the Sydney Opera House. He has also had his play Proppa Solid (originally Proper Solid) produced by JUTE Theatre Company in 2014 that will tour Queensland in 2016 and will also be published by Playlab. He is also a writer, actor and associate producer for ABC’s Logie nominated sketch show Black Comedy and has just finished filming season 2 to air in 2016.

Lorna Munro, or ‘Yilinhi’, is a Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman, multidisciplinary artist and regular radio and podcast host at Sydney’s Radio Skid Row. A long-time active member of her Redfern/Waterloo community, her work is informed by her passion and well-studied insight in areas such as culture, history, politics and popular culture. Lorna has travelled the world showcasing her skills and distinctive style of poetry and political commentary. She was also the sole designer and creator of Sydney’s—and possibly Australia’s—first initiative to teach Aboriginal language through poetry, in partnership with Red Room Poetry in 2015. Throughout her career she has been on stage, in films and on paper. She compiled and edited Paper Dreaming: Our Stories Our Way for Cambridge University Press (2015). Lorna continues to work tirelessly mastering many art forms, raising funds, and supporting and advocating for her community and her people on the local, national and international stage. In 2019, Lorna was announced as a recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter fellowship and in 2020 she was the recipient of the PLAYKING initiative with The Griffith Theatre and publishing poetry for ‘Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word’ edited by David Stranger and Anne- Marie Te Whiu, ‘Fire Front:First Nations poetry and power today’ edited by Alison Whittaker and ‘Guwayu- For All Times: A collection of First Nations Poems’ commissioned by Red Room Company and edited by Jeanine Leanne. Lorna continues her work with the Redfern/Waterloo Community Archive and mentoring our future podcasters and storytellers while caring for her son and nephews.