The mother and daughter duo healing each other with art
Gumbaynggirr woman Melissa Greenwood and her mum, Lauren Jarrett, know a thing or two about going through difficult times.
They both hail from the Gumbaynggirr, Dunghutti and Bundjalung tribes of the east coast of New South Wales, where Lauren is a survivor of the Stolen Generations.
In 1966, she was stolen from her family at Bowraville on the NSW mid-north coast and placed in the Cowper Orphanage, near Grafton.
Lauren was just nine years old at the time.
"It was like the end of the world. You have no idea what's going on, you're not really told anything. It's devastating," she told the ABC.
"You're just taken away from your loved ones, put in a car with strangers.
"In those days they had nuns with those long habits and big crosses, and headpieces; and I had no idea where I was or who they were. I had never seen a nun before.
"It was overwhelming … anything to do with your culture was banned."
When she was 18, Lauren was released from the orphanage and went looking for her family, who were thrilled with her long-awaited return.
Now 63, Lauren went on to have two daughters and a son and raised them all as a single mother.
Lauren’s daughter Melissa said, "We grew up below the poverty line and struggling with her trauma, and then inter-generational trauma that was passed down. It was really difficult."
Together, their struggles as Indigenous women pushed them to strive for more.
In 2020, the pair started an art business which they called Miimi & Jiinda, meaning mother and sister.
After just a few short months, their business is thriving and has completely turned their lives around.
"It's really a beautiful thing," Melissa says.
"It's just stemmed from me really wanting to see my mum happy and to give her a bit of confidence and get her out in the world and see her beauty.
"We just started to paint and weave together and create together and then it just really took off."
For both women, creating art together has helped them heal from past inter-generational trauma, and provided an outlet for them to share their connection to their culture.
Melissa says she “paints from the heart” and uses her creations to help tell their stories as strong Aboriginal women.
"Mum raised us to be very culturally strong and culturally proud," she says.
"A lot of the artworks I do are inspired by my connection to my ancestors, to my culture and to my people.
"It's just that loving heart energy, that Gumbaynggirr energy."
Image credits: Instagram @barefootwandering.photography