I’m an Indigenous Pacific Islander girl.
My father’s Torres Strait Islander, my mother is a Tiwi Islander, I was born in Cairns but I grew up on the Tiwi Islands.
I can speak a little bit of Tiwi and Torres Strait.
I go to Tiwi College. The troupies pick us up from community at the start of every week for boarding school.
Our classrooms are surrounded by bush and wildlife. It’s green in the wet season and really hot. In the dry season it’s brown and it’s freezing cold.
There are possums, buffalos, dingoes, wallabies, bandicoots and horses.
When you’re out bush you can hear the leaves rustling and birds singing.
My house is close to the beach, so I can smell the salty ocean.
We have a few waterholes here on the island. We swim in them more than the ocean because there aren’t as many sharks and crocodiles in the waterholes.
On the island my hobbies are archery and boxing. On weekends I like to go fishing, hunting, and camping. I also love doing art.
When I went to primary school I used to get bullied for my art.
Other kids would say “I hate art. Art is boring. Art is for losers”. Everyone was into soccer at the time and I was I into soccer as well, but I wasn’t as good as the so-called ‘cool kids’.
When my Dad found out I was getting bullied he said I had to stand up for myself. He taught me how to box. Now, I train in kickboxing with my uncle, cousin, and friend.
For training we do battle rope — 30 on each side — 10 push ups with 7 or 8kg weights. We punch the boxing bag for 30 seconds, elbow, knee, and kick the boxing bag for 30 seconds, and then I jog my way back to the boarding house.
I’ve been paid for drawing logos and illustrated a book called Arlaminga that is in the National Library of Australia down in Canberra.
I won a singlet design competition for my school two years in a row.
I’m proud of my work.
I’m a digital artist now. Self-taught. I’m the first and only person in my family to do digital art.
I want to make animations. After school I want to go to an art school and study animation so I can make my own anime. I want to make anime inspired by Dreamtime stories.
I have two goals — to be a kick-boxing champion or an animator.
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