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Women's Health West
Change & Loss
Excerpts from the Tears of Joy, Tears of Frustration Exhibition for International Women's Day 2006
"Death is just too common for us. The heartache, our low life expectancies and health problems and violence. We're in a constant state of grief. Grief from the past and grief now. A funeral every week. As a mother it is heartbreaking." Mother from the Indigenous Parents Playgroup
"Mine's negative because I don't think motherhood is all its cracked up to be. Determined to do the best I can, frustrated by how hard it is, depressed to lose the friends I had before. It's like a storm." Debbie, Melton Young, Pregnant and Parenting Group (left)
"The pink feather is for my husband who died."Marisa, Horizons Women's Group (right)
"I came to Australia when I was two. I married a Timorese man. We had our kids through IVF - it was such a shock to have twins. I couldn't do anything - shopping, things for myself. Just the experience of having no time for myself. My husband works a lot and my mother lives far away.
"My life was so good before and I wanted these kids very much. I love them and I miss them if they're away. I also miss the things I used to do. But I want to do it all myself; I don't want to put them in childcare. My mother is the only one who looks after them like me."
Mother from the Spanish-speaking Mothers Group
Grief
"I have seven children but my picture is for my daughter. Love and flowers for my five year old girl. She will always be in my heart. It hurts me when her brothers and sisters ask where she is and when she is coming home. It hurts me because it hurts them. When I was still breastfeeding my daughter the government came and took her away. They didn't even let me say goodbye. They tricked me. I lived on a reserve and they didn't think I should have a baby on a reserve. I haven't seen her again. When I find a house, I am going to court to try and find her. Today she is five." Mother from the Indigenous Parents Playgroup
"Sometimes I feel sad, first because my son is autistic, and also because he lives away from me". Mother from the Horizons Women's Group
"I have four kids and one grandson. Being a mother has been very hard for me because their father is a complete bastard. He has terrorised the kids and I and it has taken 13 years to get away.
"I am very close to my daughter. I had her when I was young. She says we are so close that when I die she wants to jump in the grave. I was there when my grandson was born. I couldn't have been anywhere else. For all we went through as a family, it has made us closer than most families." Mother, Indigenous Parents Playgroup
"The stars are for people who have died and flowers from my mother's garden." Nadia, Horizons Women's Group