The artwork was officially unveiled at Redfern Town Hall during NAIDOC Week 2020, with Wiradjuri artist Sharon Smith and RLC staff and board in attendance.
L-R: RLC Chief Operating Officer, Jacqui Swinburne, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Access Worker, Maureen Randall; Boomalli artist, Sharon Smith; RLC CEO, Joanna Shulman.
Thanks to the funding support from City of Sydney, RLC was able to engage local Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative member Sharon Smith to create an original work designed to welcome people to our Centre.
The RLC First Nations artwork project was led by our Aboriginal Legal Access Worker, Maureen Randall, who first joined RLC in October 2019. Maureen plays a pivotal role in supporting clients on the frontline of our Health Justice Partnership, and also works across the organisation to ensure that all of RLC's legal services are accessible and culturally safe.
Maureen explains that she wanted a work that would convey a sense of both "lore and law," sending a message to communities that RLC is "a place where you are in safe hands", as well as a place that "provides good service, and an environment the allows freedom of expression and provides cultural safety."
Sharon Smith, a descendant of the Wiradjuri tribe of western New South Wales, was born in Erskineville and now resides in Waterloo.
Sharon has created an intricate work for RLC entitled 'Justice For All', which emphasises the significance of RLC as a meeting place and a welcoming and safe space for all members of our community.
L-R: Boomalli artist, Sharon Smith with RLC Chair Kerry O'Brien; and former RLC Chair, Amy Munro, NAIDOC Week, November 2020.
Sharon's artist's statement explains more about the meaning and symbolism behind her work.
