The artist Nora Abbott, a Pitjantjatjara and Western Arrernte woman, paints scenes from Central Australia, including the family histories she came to know while caring for her maternal grandfather. Among them is the story of Lewis Harold Bell Lasseter, who went in search of what he believed to be an abundant ‘gold reef’ in the region in 1930. In this short animation adapted from Abbott’s paintings, she recalls Lasseter’s final days from the perspective of her grandfather and his people, the An̲angu, who were initially terrified of this stranger, but eventually sought to help him. While Lasseter’s fateful journey and ultimate death in the bush are a staple of settler Australian folklore, Abbott’s colourfully rendered account tells the story from the An̲angu point of view, centred on a peculiar outsider ‘searching for minerals’ and losing his way.
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Source: Aeon — Read the full article on the original site ↗