Luke Currie-Richardson

Our love is resistance Our love is a protest Our love is hope Our love is ancient Our love is present I wrote about this type of Blak love during lockdown. The type of love that feels like home. Someone that not only understands the struggles but also the joys of being Blak. We cried on the phone after Kumanjayi Walker case concluded We’ve laughed that proper Blak laugh at things only Blak people will only understand Someone that can sit and yell at the basketball on tv and then see if I want to go to the courts to shoot around (then beat me at around the world) The love that has you cheering and shouting out like crazy during Australian Fashion Week in front of all the stuck up fashion mob because you’re not shame to support YOUR man. After a day of being warriors we can come home to surrender to this type of love. But for someone that struggles with the concept of home, I’m glad I’ve found home with you and wherever we may end up. The black woman smile is the guiding light through the darkness doused on us by this system. Only a black woman who has experienced so much trauma can smile so brightly that it gives her people hope. A smile that glistens like when the sun reflects off the water and shines like the moon at night because it’s the darkness that allows your existence to shine so bright Our love is present Our love is ancient Our love is hope Our love is a protest Our love is resistance #Aboriginal #TorresStraitIslander #Indigenous #indigenousrights #firstnations #ownyourstory #islandwarrior #ancestors #culture #lore #protest #cultural #pride #ausgov #IndigenousAustralian #reconciliation #Australia #AboriginalFlag #alwayswasalwayswillbe #AboriginalLand #fashion #BLM #BlacklivesMatters #picoftheday #blackexcellence

Just like a superhero putting on their super suit, when I paint up I feel like I have super powers. I feel that I embody powers from my ancestors, the land, the songs and the stories. I feel connected to the past, while sharing and learning for the future. Shout out to @thaliadawnart for this amazingly detailed piece of ME 😳 #Aboriginal #TorresStraitIslander #Indigenous #indigenousrights #firstnations #ownyourstory #islandwarrior #ancestors #culture #lore #protest #cultural #pride #reels #IndigenousAustralian #reconciliation #Australia #AboriginalFlag #alwayswasalwayswillbe #AboriginalLand #fashion #BLM #BlacklivesMatters #picoftheday #Blackexcellence

Here’s a picture of my parents in their 20s marching against the system and injustices in Cairns. Our fight is inherited Like the privilege you possess It doesn’t matter what the date is This country was stolen Ripped from my people VIOLENTLY Everywhere we walk, blood has been spilt. I am exhausted My people are exhausted We’ve fought against injustices longer then this pissy national “Australia” Day holiday. Your history and traditions are so flimsy and young compared to our rich and vibrant culture, traditions and history that this colony continuously disrespect. What is Australian Culture without its Indigenous culture? What makes Australia, white Australia culturally unique from the rest of the world? I didn’t want to post today I felt an obligation to post For my community For my ancestors For the future generations I have nothing new to say about this day It’s another day in the colony And another day And another day And another day Like a record on repeat A veryyy bad record I’m tired of having to educate I’m tired of having to fight I’m tired of having to inspire But WE will continue to do so, so our children don’t have to carry the same burden. F**k YOUR traditions F**k YOUR culture F**k YOUR national holiday How’s that for articulate black? #Aboriginal #TorresStraitIslander #Indigenous #indigenousrights #firstnations #ownyourstory #islandwarrior #ancestors #culture #lore #protest #cultural #pride #reels #IndigenousAustralian #AustraliaDay #australia

RECLAMATION EXCERPT Black bodies are not trends Black voice is not noise Black art is not a phase Black visions do not ask permission We will not be the Black masks To hide white face So they can diversify and seem less racist While drip feeding Black funds Just for a spot in their white space We don’t assimilate we transform We don’t fit into institutions we bend them until they remember who they are and where they are built on Me: Knock knock. Them: Who’s there? (Repeat till audience all say) Me: About time you answered. We’ve been knocking on institutionalised doors for generations just for a place at the table. But we knock no more We sit and eat with our clan and welcome you to come eat with us Tonight we walked just like our ancestors did Tonight we walked for those that are yet to come In the name of RECLAMATION *YELL till the mob and audience join* ALWAYS WAS ALWAYS WILL BE @first.nations.fashion.design 📸 @lucasdawsonphotography @wendellt PR- @mf_pr

PRINTS AVAILABLE 🖤 Some of my photographic work is now available as fine art A3 prints at $400 each. I also believe that all art should be accessible so if $400 isn’t where you’re at right now (cost of living is crazy) but you’ve resonated with one of my images and would like it hanging in your space, please reach out. I’m genuinely open to a conversation. No offer made with love will offend me. Every sale supports a Blak artist in today’s current climate. DM me to enquire. 🙏🏾 Shipping worldwide Bala

✨ FNFD RUNWAY: RECLAMATION – May 10 ✨ After four years, FNFD (First Nations Fashion + Design) is making a historic return to Sydney with Reclamation- a powerful First Nations-led platform that reclaims sovereignty over representation, narrative, and industry infrastructure. 💥🔥 On Sunday, May 10, join us at Artspace Woolloomooloo for this groundbreaking runway, where 6 talented First Nations designers and 24 Indigenous models will take center stage. Experience stories that go beyond fashion, celebrating the cultural significance of First Nations communities. 🙌💫 ✨ The return of Grace Lillian Lee’s debut couture collection, The Guardians, marks a pivotal moment in cultural authority and creative sovereignty. Reclamation is more than a runway—it’s a bold statement of dismantling colonial systems and rebuilding them on our terms, on our land. ✊🏽 Tickets & designer announcements coming soon! Stay tuned for more!

THE COCONUT Living away from country means my hands forget. Learning simple tasks that should be second nature are the bubba steps of reclamation Coconut trees don’t exist on Ngunnawal/Ngambri, Gadigal lands nor do they exist here on Wurundjuri land, lands that have nurtured me as I drifted with the career chasing currents that carried me far from my community and countries. Smooth city hands Bruised and blistered By the rough shell I hide behind as I husk em unassisted SSS LLL OOO WWW LLL Y Scraping shredding shame till the white is mostly gone Layer by layer the shame fades as I reclaim the fibres of knowledge that my spirit and soul remembers but my muscle memory has not maintained “Ehhh, em sabe scrape a coconut ahh? *Tisk* E carnt, em scrape em too slo ! “ The Aunties cheekily mock impatiently My tongue might not know the language prapa but it knows the flavour of love and pride of Kai Kai prepared by the seasoned hands that carried sustenance through generations to reach my belly. Food that tastes like my Nenes kitchen smells like family gatherings in town halls sounds like the belly laughs of Blak joy reverberating back and forth over trestle tables and feels like a hug of a thousand seasoned hands that are gently guiding me back to my ancestral lands through my belly. #Aboriginal #TorresStraitIslander #Indigenous

FLORA Bangarra x The Australian Ballet Another one in the bag for Team GLL @gracelillianlee . So proud of my niece and everything you’re achieving. Even more special getting to travel the world and be on this journey with you. Big congratulations to Franny and the crew at @bangarradancetheatre . That collaboration was always one of my dreams during my time there (missed it by one year 😅), so seeing it return has me excited to see where it goes next. If you need an ageing bald bala for the next one… you’ve got my details 😉 Thanks to @ausballet for the invite and for hosting such a great night. Image 1 – @wendellt Videos – @chrisbakerfilmaker Image 3 – Cameron Grant @parenthesy

A platoon of photographers advance to claim the front line. They raise their weapon of choice, POINT and SHOOT turning breathing Blak bodies into forgettable content Pap Pap Pap Pap Pap Barrels scan the procession as they search for their next victim, doesn’t matter who you shoot, only how they get framed. Flickering flashes expose First Nation flesh as they’re candidly caught in the firing line just so those Peoples pictures get plastered on platforms for praise as the feed chews up and spits out post by post, picture by picture, aspiring photographer by aspiring photographer. Shoot on sight, and capture and paraded for all to see REWARD. LIKE$ and engagement with an algorithm that favours thee. As sun falls on the battlefield, people retreat, refuel, reload and regather, Knowing they’ll fight again Same date Same time Year after year after year after year after year after year. ALWAYS WAS ALWAYS WILL BE 1st image - @djaambi_ The rest - me @bl_snaps

I’m a STORYTELLER, not a GRANT WRITER. Two months ago I had the absolute pleasure of being part of the @moogahlin Yellamundie Festival which gives both seasoned and aspiring theatre makers the opportunity to get in a room with collaborators for 2 weeks and present/pitch to an audience willing to witness the early heartbeat of our ideas. My piece, DIARY OF A CITY BLAK is a work in progress that navigates my Blak, Black, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Indigenous, First Nations (pick whichever speaks to you) diaspora. A piece about identity, yearning, and carving out a space in the city that rarely makes room for us. I want to thank the entire team at @moogahlin for the opportunity. I’m proper grateful, not just for the platform, but for reminding me I’m on the right path, even after the constant knockbacks from white/mainstream orgs that nearly had me giving up on opportunities like this. I felt truly supported from beginning to end, and I’d 100% recommend this program to any aspiring theatre makers. To my team deadly team! @sharileesebbens , Nathan Maynard, Amy Flannery, @norulesjustpassion , thank you for pushing me, supporting me, reminding me to eat and holding me through those two weeks as I searched for my language and vision on stage. Thank you for challenging me to explore new ways of storytelling outside my comfort zone. And to everyone who came to the showing and went on that journey with me, thank you. 🙏🏾 I did not expect that ovation for a work still in development, but you chose to come on that ride, and I’m deeply grateful. 🙏🏾 🎥 - @stephenwilsonbarker 📸 - Jamie James and Jarrah Bill Produced and Presented by Moogahlin Performing Arts

I feel. I feel deeply. Artists usually do. Yesterday my hands were shaking with an anger I have not felt. I guess that was that fight or flight people talk about. Sitting on a public bench after a long day of nazis nastily nagging in Naarm. 3 drunk, aggressive, “patriotic” white clowns, walk past Double back And Get up in my face. When I said “Point that F**kin finger in my face again and see what happens” the first slightly backs off. I say “There are 3 of you, if you wanna do something, F**kin do it.” They then retreat saying “See he’s aggressive…” And some other unintelligent shit only their 3 collective brain cells could concoct I saw good little tokens Assimilated and obedient Forgetting their cultural heritage after their parents or grandparents MIGRATED here, walk carefully with toothless, gummy rednecks and nazis like they belong Echoing chants like parrots on their owners shoulders. All of them screaming about stopping immigration. But let’s be real, they are not worried about cheery Brits,Kiwis or white South Africans moving here. Some of them hold the same racist ideologies. They’re not immigrants or refugees, They’re reinforcements! What they want stopped is us. Black and Brown people. Yes, US. That is why they attacked Camp Sovereignty. An Aboriginal camp. This was never about immigration. Never. It has always been about power. WHITE power. Fragility was on full display yesterday. Fragile like the three teeth left in a lot of their mouths. But also brazen, because they know the cops or government will not do anything. I mean, why would they stop racists when they are cut from the same cloth 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 And for those who can and are able to go to protests, the so called (clothing the gap wearing) allies but stay home because it doesn’t directly affect you (just your Black and Brown friends) If these nazi protests rise and you’re still ghosts, Their uprising is fuelled by your inaction and complicity. If you feel like that’s directed at you, it probably is. Deal with it from the safety of your privilege. First pic & last video @djaambi_ Rest - me 👋🏾

The Dreamweaver at The Lourve Mask Designer -@gracelillianlee 📸- @wendellt 🎥- @chrisbakerfilmaker