Emma Stewart's laugh is infectious.
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Everything she says has a lightness to it, and even the most challenging subjects can be turned into a lesson learnt or to be shared. She simply weaves philosophies into the stories of her life and gives them to those who want to listen.
Emma's grandfather was a member of the Stolen Generation. Her father was told at school he was a liar when he declared he was an original custodian of the land and was instead taught Captain Cook 'discovered' Australia.
"Can you imagine how confusing that would have been as a little person?".
Emma describes growing up in a bit of a "bubble" in her La Perouse community in south-eastern Sydney on her ancestral Bidjigal Country, "I thought black was the thing to be."
She said, "Aboriginal people were the majority, so I didn't realise at that stage we were the minority." It wasn't until she went to university and sat as the only Indigenous person in the room when she felt the alarming "lack of Aboriginal people and presence".
She remembers that first day with clarity. Not for reasons you might think. But because it was the first time in her whole life she had been interrogated about her identity.
"I was questioned quite aggressively about my Aboriginality by this old whitefella", an event that led her to wonder what the rest of her life would look like.
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She wanted to give up there and then. Even telling her dad she wasn't going back.
He said, "Emma, racists are everywhere," and asked her if she was going to let some random stranger tell her who she was and how she was going to go out in the world.
So she went back and finished her qualification in community services and realised that if this had happened to her, it would happen to "every other Aboriginal person, and that's just not something I'm willing to accept."
Emma is a proud Bidjigal and Gweagal woman with kinship to Eora, Dharawal, Dharug, Yuin and Gundangara Nations. She grew up with a very strong cultural foundation taught by her grandparents Jean and Harold Stewart, "the most important people in my life".
They were elders in her community and were fierce activists. "They fought to be seen and heard and keep our people from being forcibly removed from our traditional lands".
It was her grandfather who showed her how to exist in the world even after horrible things had happened. "He was taken away from his family, he was a slave."
Emma remembers him as the most "loving, kind, considerate and compassionate person". She was often left to wonder how he could be so accepting of others after being been treated the opposite his whole life. She was told by her father that her grandfather didn't "dwell in the darkness".
It was watching that as a little person that ingrained pride for her community and the importance of Aboriginal people to coming together to share culture.
Even though she has had times in her life where she felt "fuming" and can hold space for people who still do, she has done a lot of healing to understand, "why people feel that way about our people".
She realised the culprit was likely a lack of education, "a lot of fear about the unknown" and a disconnection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
"I think a lot of people want to be connected to us but don't know how after the way that we have been treated". That very thought helped Emma build more empathy and compassion for people.
She started focusing on those who were really positive and happy about her people because, "well I don't want to be stereotyping and saying that every white Australian was racist because that's not fair".
She said she was a firm believer that consistently sitting with heaviness and trauma, "stops us from doing what we're here to do and to be who you need to be".
To Emma, it was Aboriginal philosophy that teaches the connection of the the past, present, and future as part of the dreaming that allowed her to be so "proactive, positive and resilient".
She has made it her mission in life to help people learn how to handle and take care of themselves "so they don't get stuck there because it's not a nice place for anyone to live".
She now lives in Merimbula on Djiringanj Country on the Far South Coast of NSW and runs a successful multifaceted business called Jirribitti Dreaming.
Jirribitti in Darug language means snake and reveals the meaning behind her business philosophy.
"It symbolises our ability to shed our skin and transform our trauma by learning, sharing, and practising cultural ways of healing".
Emma runs workshops and facilitates discussion around cultural connection and competency, as well as being an artist, jewellery maker, yarning circle facilitator and intuitive healer.
She said the main purpose of her business was to teach and share Aboriginal ways of healing and leading.
"Aboriginal leadership is a lot more inclusive and empowering. We lead from behind. We don't have one dictator up the front. It's very holistic and is about listening more than speaking."
She also works part-time as an Indigenous student success advisor at the University of Wollongong Bega Campus.
"You have to be the change that you want to see in the world and I'm a big believer in I can't change everything, but I am responsible for who I am and the energy that I and the way I treat people."
Emma said she has had conversations through running her business that has led her to believe there has been a noticeable shift over the last couple of years.
"Our old people and our ancestors have been fighting and have been trying to be seen and heard for generations".
She feels her generation is finally starting to reap the benefits of all that hard work and resilience.
She feels people are more open and willing to learn, which is a wonderful thing for "our healing"
"And when I say, 'our healing', I mean everyone's healing in this space, because it's not just us that need to heal."
She recognises the weight our collective history has on people of all backgrounds and ethnicities.
"People benefitting off the blood of black people is a lot to digest"- there needs to be healing on both sides.
Emma believes one of the best roads to collective healing and reconciliation is through "truth telling and allowing Indigenous people to shine and let their valuable input lead the conversation.
"There's a reason why we are the oldest living culture in the world, that's something to be proud of".
To connect with Emma Stewart you can follow her on Instagram or Facebook. To purchase any of her artwork or jewellery, visit her Etsy store. Until Wednesday, June 22 she is a featured artist at Spiral Gallery's South Coast Indigenous Artists exhibition.
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