ELLA NOAH BANCROFT RETURNS TO WHOLENESS
SUBJECT
Ella Noah Bancroft
OCCUPATION
Artist and director
LOCATION
Northern Rivers, Australia
DATE
July, 2020
Four times a year, in line with the seasons, Ella Noah Bancroft hosts a gathering of women in the hills of Bundjalung country, just inland of Cavanbah (or Byron Bay). Through workshops, panel discussions and shared meals, these gatherings give women the chance to reconnect with the wisdom and skills of ancient cultures in a modern setting: in the morning you might find a workshop on weaving or foraging, followed in the afternoon by panel discussions on social enterprise or reclaiming the birth space in the modern medical system.
The Returning gatherings bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and our modern context – an important bridge to straddle in a year that has forced us all to strongly reconsider the ways we live, and the systems we rely on and participate in.
Through knowing Ella and being in conversation with her, I realise how much she is already living the life that we all should aspire to live. She adds wild nutrients to her diet by foraging the coastal landscape for native foods, she is committed to buying locally, and she seeks to be of service rather than of success. All of which epitomises her personal commitment to decolonisation – a process of deconstructing our minds, communities and systems away from the way they have been colonised or indoctrinated by a world that subtly urges us to purchase food grown far away, to compete rather than collaborate, and to focus on our individual safety and success rather than that of the collective.
Ella is unafraid to speak about the many things that are wrong with this country and this world, but she is also unafraid to boldly put forward her vision of what change could look like right now and into the future. In a year full of fear and uncertainty, I find her fearlessness and clarity both comforting and inspiring.
ELLA NOAH BANCROFT: I’d like to start by acknowledging that I live on Bundjalung land, I live in Cavanbah which means “meeting place” in Bundjalung. And I want to acknowledge the Arakwal peoples and all the other clans that travelled north and south who came to Cavanbah in the winter months to fish, use the medicine of the coast, create ceremonies and connect to Country. I pay respects to elders past, present and future and pay respects to Mother Earth. May we all continue to see ourselves as a part of, not separate from, her – to continue to respect and protect culture and Country.
NATALIE WOODS: Thank you. I would also like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the Arakwal people and the Bundjalung nation where we are both so lucky to live. And you actually grew up west of here, is that right?
So I am a descendant of
