Moale James is a dynamic Papua New Guinean-Australian woman whose talent extends from writing, to performing arts, to podcasting, to public speaking – just to name a few. In this interview she generously shares about navigating identity growing up in the NT, Victoria and Queensland; what creativity means to her; and projects such as ‘Our Knowledge, Our Practice, Our Stories’ funded by AustCo, and the Tedx Talk she did in year 12.
Grab a cuppa and enjoy this conversation with an inspiring storyteller, Moale James.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your creative practice.
My name is Moale which is Motuan for, ‘happy celebration’ or ‘rejoice’. I am a Papua New Guinean-Australian woman belonging to the Motuan people from Gaba Gaba village and I am a second-generation migrant.
It’s funny, I’ve never really understood myself, my work or practice as ‘creative’ or ‘artistic’. Although, admittedly, I do come from a family of artists, creatives and educators (musicians, dancers, weavers, performers, storytellers) and I have spent most of my life taking part in their many productions, more notably the productions of Drum Drum and Sunameke. Today I feel most comfortable around artists and creatives, even though I wouldn’t identify as one myself.
If I think about that, then I suppose my creative practice is inherent from my family’s creativity and the things they have taught me as well as my experiences as a ‘diaspora’, ‘second-generation migrant’, ‘bi-cultural woman’, whatever term suits you at the time. I have always been a storyteller (oral storytelling, written storytelling and using multimedia, photography), and these stories I share have always been community focused and informed, as is the way of being a Pacific Islander woman.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
The first instance that comes to mind of starting my own creative practice is when I was in middle-school and I was in this stage of life where I was trying to navigate my identity. When you’re the “brownest” person in not only the classroom and the school, but also the small country town you live in, you start that journey of navigating identity a lot quicker than others because you’re forced to. I was approached by one of my teachers and she asked me to join the writing club at my school and she really helped me experiment with different types of writing, I’d say that she was heavily responsible for fostering this love for writing in me, in an educational context.
It would have been later in the year when I had another teacher say to me, ‘You’re not Papua New Guinean, because you were born in Australia, and you have light skin’. I didn’t know how to respond at the time, but I remember feeling like all the words that I had spent the past year learning how to beautifully string together had been taken away from me. I went home and I sat at my computer all night and I wrote my first piece, ‘Zebra Skin’. When I finished, I came out to my parents and I showed them my piece, they then sent it to a man who at the time I didn’t know very well but would later call ‘Uncle’ (Mark Yettica-Paulson) who offered some insight and edits. I didn’t know at the time but my parents then sent my piece to Stella Magazine which is a Papua New Guinean women’s magazine and the founder, Amanda Donigi (who is now a mentor of mine), published the piece.
Later that year, I received copies of the magazine with my piece in it in the mail. I then took two copies to school, one for the teacher who invited me to the writing club and then I left the second copy with a sticky note on the page of the piece, on the desk of the teacher who had made those comments to me and a note saying, ‘Something for you to think about’.
I suppose the question, ‘Why did I start my practice?’, aside from wanting to just prove a point, I wanted to re-claim the words that had been taken from me. I think many people have these inherent ignorant perceptions of being bi-cultural and I want to explore those perceptions and change them. I hope that my style of storytelling allows others in the community who want to share, also have their voices come through in the pieces I write with them.
(https://spark.adobe.com/page/AkXa0rgwFtePx/) / Zebra Skin
Where did you grow up and has it influenced what you create?
I was born in the Northern Territory and I spent 10 years there, and then we moved to Victoria and I spent 5 years there until we finally settled in Queensland where I have been ever since. I think the multi-culturalism dynamic and the ‘forward thinking’ of each state is different and without a doubt each state and their various levels of understanding of their diverse communities influenced me greatly.
I spent my childhood in Darwin, celebrating and learning my culture, being only a plane trip away to my village. I then spent later primary and early middle-school in Melbourne and the creative and arts landscape there is not only encouraged, but the community embraces it too. I would have then been in late middle-school to early high-school when we moved to the Sunshine Coast and I experienced a massive culture shock. I think Queensland is getting better in terms of celebrating their diversity and multi-culturalism, but certainly when my family moved there Pauline Hanson and her ‘ideologies’ were still very prevalent and the kids that were growing up with me had very deeply rooted ideas about race, people of colour, culture, heritage and where it sat in the community – and that was not within it, but on the out-skirts.
I think because of this ignorance and hatred that is undoubtedly rooted in Queensland’s very violent history people have these comments and when they’re directed at you and you’ve been raised to not put up with that, you then call people out. So yes, a lot of my early work are responses to these early experiences of racism – even if the comment or action wasn’t directed at me or my family and it’s changing now that I live in Brisbane, and that locale has it’s own themes to explore.
Tell us about your past creative projects. What has been a highlight so far?
I have been so blessed to work on many creative projects, sometimes as the lead-artist, but most of the time as a supporting-artist (I’m still young in my career). I’ve done a lot of public speaking, including presenting a Tedx Talk in my final year of high-school (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLS6eqMIqxI). I’ve written pieces for different organisations, like Ascension Magazine, Pacific Media Watch. I’ve been a part of live-exhibitions and done some modelling for Pacific Fashion Festival.
Currently, I am working on a project funded by the Australian Council of the Arts called, ‘Our Knowledge, Our Practice, Our Stories’. I’m essentially spending 12-months researching and learning about how we create culturally safe spaces for First Nations people in our workplaces and our relationships (https://www.knowledgepracticestories.com/home).
I am also working with the Curatorial team of Asian and Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art as a Research Assistant for their 10th Asia Pacific Triennial. (https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/apt10) There are many individual projects within this exhibition, and I’ve been blessed to be able to work and learn from the team at QAGOMA. I want to shoutout to the Curator, Pacific Art, Ruth McDougall who made space for me to be in the gallery. It’s an opportunity I will never forget and I am eternally grateful for. I did take part as supporting artist in APT8 (2016) for Yumi Danis which is a production by Julia Mage’au Gray and Sunameke (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts0Ch0ymmC4).
Career highlights thus far, would be working on these APT exhibitions, once as an artist and now as a researcher and being supported to share space and conversation with knowledgeable and inspirational First Nations people.
Who or what was inspires your practice?
I have been inspired by many people and things. Most of my inspiration has come from conversations with family and friends, when you’re sitting on a mat/couch, eating food, having a cup of tea or wine and you just feel safe and able to talk and explore anything that comes to mind.
Where do you feel most creative?
There’s no set place, most of the time it has to be in an atmosphere where I feel safe to be able to explore different topics and themes.
What gets you through challenging creative/ industry times?
That’s a question I’ve been exploring a lot, if anyone has any tips, please send them through! Writer’s block is real, most of the time I think that the challenges I have can come from not having enough information or knowledge about a topic, or I’ve mis-understood something. When that happens I try and look at my work in a different light. I try to avoid forcing my writing, it ends up being horrible. I’m slowly learning that it’s ok to leave things for a bit and to come back to them when you’re ready.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
I really want to explore photography at the moment and I am loving the work of, Putaanga Whakaahua (@putaanga_whakaahua) and Marley Morgan (@barefootwandering.photography)
What future projects are you looking forward to?
I actually asked one of my mentors, Ruha Fifita, this question and I loved her response, so I think I will go with that too. I’m looking forward to the (hopefully) many projects to come.
Where can we find and follow you online?
I have an online portfolio/website – https://www.moalejames.com/
I have a separate website for my current project, ‘Our Knowledge, Our Practice, Our Stories’ – https://www.knowledgepracticestories.com/home
I post a lot on my Instagram page, @moalejames, it’s more a platform for me to track my progress in these projects. I’m also on FaceBook under, @OurKnowledge.OurPractice.OurStories.
Featured image: Moale James with Ranu James. Photo credit: Pat & Kat Morrow. All images courtesy of the artist.