Kerri Clarke
2023 Cohort
Kerri is strengthening elders’ connections to family, community and culture through collective storytelling and participation in cultural practices by placing Aboriginal culture at the forefront of dismantling colonial systems.
Kerri (Boon Wurrung, Wemba Wemba) works with communities across South eastern Australia, maintaining and establishing cultural connections for Aboriginal communities, families and children and young people. Kerri is an established Possum Skin Cloak maker having participated in and facilitated the creation and exhibition of many cloaks across the South east of Australia and internationally. Kerri has participated in the revival and making of cultural objects for over 20 years, passing this knowledge onto family members and the next generations. Kerri also has an established career in the Family and Community Services sector having assisted numerous organisations to develop strategies and programs to ensure quality service delivery to meet the needs of Aboriginal communities, families and children.
“I wish to strengthen Elders connection to family, community and culture through collective storyt elling and participation in cultural practices by placing Aboriginal culture at the forefront of dismantling colonial systems that have not prioritised nor recognised Indigenous knowledge as legitimate and necessary when caring for our people.”
Social change work
Aboriginal Elders in residential aged care are at risk of losing connection to their family, community and culture and opportunities to engage in traditional practices such as collective story telling. This causes affront to their quality of life, social capital and health outcomes. My project asks the question: does engagement in the traditional practice of possum skin cloak making benefit the health and well-being of Aboriginal Elders in residential aged care, through shared storytelling and building connectivity and can a model of intervention based on the creation of possum skin cloaks be scaled to ensure transferability across aged care settings?