About
About
Welcoming the Unwelcome: A Black Rainbow Homecoming
This is a 3-4 year First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy Human rights photography project commencing in 2025 that is based in the Cape York Peninsula of remote Far North Queensland, Australia. Led by international Human Rights Lawyer, First Nations LGBTQIA+ Scholar, Photographer and Creative, Marijke Bassani who is a Lama Lama/Lamalama, Binthi Warra (Guugu Yimithirr Nation) and Bulgun Warra gender and sexuality diverse woman from the Cape York Peninsula.
This body of visual work is the second phase of Marijke’s PhD project which she is in the final stages of completing under the joint supervision of UNSW Sydney Faculty of Law & Justice and the UC Berkeley Center for Race & Gender.
Drawing from the foundation of her PhD thesis titled, Welcoming the Unwelcome: (Re)claiming space as the Black-Indigenous-Rainbow ‘Other’ this grassroots photography project is community connection-building work that cultivates visual and bodily space for First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples to challenge their position as the invisible, and hypervisible, Black-Indigenous-Rainbow ‘Other’ on their stolen and colonised lands by reclaiming, and taking up, space within their Cape York communities.
This will translate to spending 2-3 years taking portraits and collecting contemporary personal narratives Cape York Rainbow mob about culture and community life.
Those who participate in the project will be photographed in clothing, poses and locations of their choosing.
All portraits and contemporary personal narratives collected will be collated into a photography book.
The book will mark the first photographic and narrative celebration of Cape York First Nations gender and sexuality diversity, challenging existing dehumanising colonial queerphobic stereotypes that cause much physical, social, emotional and spiritual harm.
All profits generated from the book will be returned directly to those who had their portraits taken and personal narratives collected to build financial wellness and autonomy for Cape York First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples.
Selected portraits and contemporary personal narratives will feature in a touring art exhibition to further promote the book and project.
Welcoming the Unwelcome: A Black Rainbow Homecoming will be a ground-breaking unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portray First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples in Cape York communities today. While self-determination and sovereignty over our lands are important, so too is self-determination and sovereignty over our own bodies, genders and sexualities. It is time that we felt welcome and at home on our own lands, in our own bodies. It is time for land back and bodies back too.
Meet Marijke
A Lama Lama/Lamalama, Binthi Warra (Guugu Yimithirr Nation), Bulgun Warra gender and sexuality diverse woman from the Cape York Peninsula, Marijke has firsthand experience of the multidimensional discrimination Cape York First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples face both within, and outside, their Cape York communities. These personal experiences sparked a deep curiosity in cultural knowledges, practices and rituals around First Nations gender and sexuality diversity.
Marijke’s interest developed into a passion to elevate and protect the rights and voices of First Nations gender and sexuality diverse peoples from across the globe. Now a commercially trained internationally accomplished multilingual Human Rights Lawyer, First Nations LGBTQIA+ Scholar, Photographer and Creative, specialising in International law with a focus on Discrimination and Human rights, Marijke is committed to empowering LGBTQIA+ members of Indigenous Peoples to stand proudly in the fullness of all their ancient rich vibrant cultural complexity.
Marijke’s unique lived experience of walking in three worlds is reflected in her remarkable way of being an Artist, Lawyer and First Nations LGBTQIA+ woman in contemporary society. Guided by wawu (heart/soul/spirit/intuition/inner core), Marijke’s photographs reflect her virtuoso technique, consummate craftmanship and dynamic engagement with First Nations LGBTQIA+ members of Cape York communities. It is this inimitable skillset that allows Marijke to paint a culturally intimate, sensitive and colourful picture of respectful partnership and reciprocity between Artist and Sitter.
