Thea Anamara Perkins – Sisters, 2024, oil on board, 40cm x 30.5cm. Purchased in 2024 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Murdoch University Art Collection.
The moment I saw Thea Anamara Perkins’ painting titled “Sisters”; a whole lifetime of memories crashed over me like a giant wave. My big sister Nicole was my lifelong best friend. She passed away on the 15th of November 2023. That date will forever split my life in two, the before and the after.
When I look at Thea’s depiction of sisters, I am overcome by the older sister’s body language. I can almost feel her love and pride, feet crossed over in excitement and a huge smile beaming as she looks down over her little sister. The moment of deep love captured in this artwork represents the beginning of a lifetime of connection between sisters. In our cultures, the oldest sister of the family has a central role in guiding and caring for their younger siblings. They are our best friends, our mentors and our biggest supporters. The background is unclear, colours blended together, giving the impression that nothing else exists in this moment beyond the sister love.
Nicole was 13 years older than me and was the biggest influence on shaping who I am today. I faced many challenges growing up and through them all, Nicole was my rock. When I entered K-Track, the Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre’s enabling course, I was asked to write my first 500-word essay and went home in tears. I didn’t think that I could do it and I was considering discontinuing my studies. I had dropped out of high school at the end of year ten and fell pregnant with my oldest son at sixteen years old. I felt as though I wasn’t intelligent enough or capable enough to be here at university. Nicole listened to me feel sorry for myself for a little while and asked me what I wanted to do with my life.
My answer was simple, I didn’t want my son to grow up facing the same struggles that I had. She told me that I could give him that, but I needed to write this essay. She knew me so deeply and I trusted that, if she believed that I could do it, then I could. And so, I did. I submitted that 500-word essay and went on to graduate from the enabling program at the top of my class. I graduated with a 3.8/4 GPA in my bachelor’s degree and a 4/4 GPA for my postgraduate coursework. After needing Nicole's support to write that first 500-word essay, I submitted my 46,000-word research thesis in 2018. At my graduation, she was up there in the crowd cheering me on, as she always was.
She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and, without that, my life could have been so different. I am now the Dean of the School of Indigenous Knowledges here at Murdoch University. What a wild ride it has been, with my big sister alongside me, picking me up each time that I fell and pushing me to chase my dreams.
As we reach our goals and in every small win along the way, I think it’s important to celebrate the people who supported us to get here. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants, whether it be our big sisters or brothers, our parents, our grandparents, aunties, uncles or friends. We are who we are because of them.
Throughout our lifetime together, Nicole embodied the deep love that is represented in Thea Anamara Perkins’ painting. Similarly to the baby sister in this artwork, looking forwards obliviously, as babies do, I was oblivious to just how lucky I was to have her until she was gone. On that note, I would like to thank my big sister, Nicole. I am me because you were you and I miss you with every inch of my being.
About Jenna Woods
Jenna Woods (she/her) is a Wardandi Noongar woman with family connections throughout the South-West of Western Australia. She is a mother of four, aunty, sister and niece of many. Jenna is the Dean of the School of Indigenous Knowledges (SIK) and continues to lecture into both the SIK and Community Development programs.
She began her journey at Murdoch as an enabling course student and went on to study Community Development and Politics before undertaking here postgraduate research. Jenna began as an academic staff member in 2016 as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences before progressing to leadership positions within SIK.
Jenna is passionate about contributing to positive social change for her Noongar community, creating platforms for Truth Telling, Justice and Healing. Murdoch University had a lifechanging impact on her and her children and she now views education as liberation. As such, Jenna is committed to creating pathways for Indigenous young people to university, through their studies and into academia to develop the next generation of Indigenous academics.
