Photographs from a landmark gathering of 260 women at Banatjarl on Jawoyn Country by Renae Saxby for the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network

In 2019, Rembarrnga, Dalabon, and Mayili elders invited women caring for Country from across the Northern Territory to meet at Bawurrbarnda in central Arnhem Land. There, women from 32 ranger groups came together and articulated their shared vision: We are strong Indigenous women of the Northern Territory. We stand united as one strong voice. We commit to a network that gives equal power to the rights of all our women. Strong Women means Healthy Country.

Today this network is known as Strong Women for Healthy Country and is proudly hosted by Mimal Land Management. It continues to grow in size and in May 2021 over 260 women from across the Territory met at Banatjarl on Jawoyn Country for the second Strong Women for Healthy Country Forum. While there the women connected with one another and affirmed a commitment to a collective vision of strong and strategic advocacy, collaboration, communication and governance. The images that comprise this exhibition, Healing Country and Community, are all photographs taken at that landmark gathering.

In 2022, the network will convene its third Strong Women for Healthy Country Forum on Eastern Arrernte Country. To mobilise towards their shared vision, they welcome your support. To stand with the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network, connect with them on Facebook, or make a donation to their work by clicking here. 

The idea for this exhibition began only a few months ago, when Banatjarl cultural advisor Miliwanga Wurrben and network coordinator Kate van Wezel made a visit to Godinymayin. There they met new chief executive Eric Holowacz, and the began discussing plans for the centre’s upcoming International Women’s Day exhibitions. After learning more about the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network, Holowacz suggested an exhibition of photographs to fit Godinymayin’s new Laneway Gallery. Van Wezel contacted the team who had documented the landmark 2021 gathering, and a plan for a new (and rather quick) exhibition was hatched. This week, we invite you visit our Laneway Gallery—as part of our International Women’s Day programming—and see Healing Country and Community and 20 images that represent the collective strength of the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network. 

In this documentary exhibition, photographer Renae Saxby distills the beauty and power of the gathering held at Banatjarl Outstation on Jawoyn Country, where women travelled from far and wide to share in an experience of shared voice and intercultural exchange. Through the photographer’s intuitive eye and lens, we are offered an intimate glimpse into a women’s gathering—and meetings filled with honest brave conversation, art therapy, weaving, and healing spaces. We see the faces of the nurturers—caregivers, mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and sisters—all working tirelessly to support their families and communities in the Northern Territory day in and day out. 

Beyond the visual impact, Saxby’s images carry underlying messages of hope, connection, intention, and power. Thanks to Van Wezel and the women behind the network, this remarkable exhibition appeared on the Godinymayin doorstep at the perfect moment. This completes a trio of exhibitions for 2022 International Women’s Day that includes We are Strong Women from Merrepen Arts and the community project Women of Kath-ryne. Thanks also go to the Godinymayin team—Trish Aspey, Richard Starr, Robert Paynter—and to gallery volunteer Jake Qunlivan, board members and Women of Kath-ryne coordinators Toni Tapp Coutts and Siobhan Mackay, and the dozens of people involved in making these exhibitions possible.   

Healing Country and Community documents and showcases the emerging network of Territory women who are committed to growing their collective power—working to unite their voices and forge empowered futures. This exhibition also documents a pivotal moment in time for our region’s women as they helm of a self-determined movement with grass roots organising right here in our own backyard. You can learn more about how to support their growth and development by clicking here.