This year for National Reconciliation Week the ASA team attended The Country Cries for Truth, an exhibition by Bundjalung artist, author/ illustrator, and former ASA board director, Dr Bronwyn Bancroft. The exhibition contains a series of works that Dr Bancroft completed in 2021-2022 as part of the inaugural NSW First Nations Creative Fellowship.

Held at the Exhibition Galleries at the State Library of New South Wales, The Country Cries for Truth highlights the painful legacies left by colonisation, but also the resilience of First Nations peoples, through a collection of mixed-media artworks. 

Inspired by her own family history and connection to Country, Dr Bancroft reimagines both historic photographs from the Library’s JW Lindt collection, as well as family photographs, by painting onto them. These artworks sit alongside family heirlooms, historical artefacts, and original paintings. A serene soundscape also accompanies the journey through the exhibition. 

These works resist a colonial history that attempts to erase the survival of First Nations cultures. The Country Cries for Truth, is an act of truth-telling — of adjusting the historical lens to encompass the existence, resistance, and survival of First Nations peoples.

The Country Cries for Truth also calls attention to the significance of creative fellowships and funding as an integral part of supporting creatives to produce important and impactful works that help us reflect upon and reconsider our national identity.