Black lives and Black land are at the heart of all fights for justice across this continent.
Climate justice work grounded in Indigenous sovereignty makes the interconnectedness of our shared fights clear by demanding anti-racism, growing solidarities, and providing a genuine foundation for climate action.
This event brings together Black climate activists and artists from Meanjin with the Beehive Collective, an activist arts collective dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots” by creating collaborative visual and performance works for use as educational and organizing tools.
We’ll kick off with a panel & performances hosted by Boe Spearim (Frontier War Stories, WAR) with Beehive Design Collective and some other incredible speakers TBA.
Based outside at Southside House, we’ll provide some afternoon tea to fuel you while you take in beats & visual art, including Beehive’s larger than life (6m by 3m!) mural ‘The True Cost of Coal’.
About Boe Spearim (host)
Boe (he/him) is a Kooma, Murawarii and Gamilaraay, podcaster and activist born in western Sydney and raised on the Southside of Brisbane.
Boe has been involved in community radio since 2012, in 2017 he began hosting Let’s Talk a talkback program that discusses issues that affect First Nations people, as well as hosting the Frontier War Stories podcast, dedicated to truth-telling about a side of Australia that has been left out of the history books.
Boe got involved in activism at the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy, established in March 2012 in Musgrave Park, and currently a member of Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR).
About Jacinta Bligh (she/her)
A Bligh, Brierty, Bond and Davis woman from the Wakka Wakka, Cobble Cobble and Kullili people from South East and South West Queensland. Born and raised in the South Burnett with extensive time in Cherbourg and Dalby, Jacinta has a passion for Aboriginal history, sovereignty and culture and Country; all reflective of family values passed down from grandparents, father, aunties and uncles.
About Beehive Design Collective
The Beehive Design Collective is a wildly motivated, all-volunteer, activist arts collective dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots” by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images for use as educational and organizing tools. They work as word-to-image translators of complex global stories, shared with us through conversations with affected communities.
About ‘The True Cost of Coal’
The True Cost of Coal graphic uses mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia as a lens through which to understand the historical and contemporary story of energy and resource extraction. With a gigantic portable mural teeming with intricate images of plants and animals from the most biodiverse temperate forest on the planet, the Bees will share (and seek) stories of how mountaintop removal coal mining affect communities and ecosystems throughout Appalachia and beyond. The mural is winding timeline and is paired with a rhyming story that guides participants through the history of Appalachia. From a pre-colonial time to the onset of colonization, industrialization, and mechanization, into the present-day reality of climate chaos, extreme extraction, addiction, and natural disaster, and then onwards through resistance and community organizing into a sustainable, regenerative, and decolonial future.
About Southside House
Southside House is an old Queenslander-style house. We will be based outside, on a loose gravel surface with seating available. Doorways are suitable for some mobility devices (typically 75cm).
Street parking is available but limited. Southside House is under 10 min walk from Park Road train station, under 5 min walk from bus stops on Annerley Rd (112, 116, 202) and under 10min walk from Boggo Rd busway.
If you have questions or ways we can make this event more accessible for you, please chat to us at admin@icrr.com.au.
Children at this event
Children are welcome at this event, we’ll set up a kids space with activities available.
Livestream
No need to register for livestream. We will livestream the panel on the ICRR Facebook page.
This event takes place on unceded Yuggera/Jagera land. ICRR seeks to centre their sovereignty and that of all Indigenous people in our work.