MEGAN COPE: I'm Megan Cope, I'm a Quandamooka woman from North Stradbroke Island, and my practice is about our history, our Quandamooka history, Aboriginal politics, history, environment, all those sorts of things. So I work across installation, painting, video and now performance. When I started out as an artist you know, shortly after graduating I didn't really know what I wanted to do, or I did, but I didn't know how to resolve it, and in what way. So actually, when I finished uni I started teaching at QCA in Brisbane, and I was teaching a subject called Indigenous Art Practices and Protocols. And that was really informative like, that actually shaped how I wanted to work because I spent so much time explaining to students about Aboriginal art, the importance of our work, how it floats the market in this country, and then also just the everyday human discussion about what is Australia? Who are we? I was really suprised that at that time which was you know ten years ago, a lot of young people didn't recognise the city Brisbane as an Aboriginal place. So that's what got me thinking about maps, and challenging concepts of ownership and place and history and time and all that kind of stuff. So it was great because everyday I had to explain these things over and over and over, and then suddenly I realised that you know, I needed to use maps. I needed to work with language, and I really needed to focus on I guess creating images and having conversations that put Aboriginal people at the centre of that space, and seeing the built environment in the same way that we do, so using our place names, talking about our connections, and yeah, like realigning that at the center. I think that being an artist is one of the most challenging professions. So problem solving you know, even in the most basic way when you approach art, it's a challenge. I think the most challenging thing is managing yourself and time and discipline, and creating you know, kind of running your business you know. If you want to do art full time, you know you are a business. You are... you have to, there's all of that kind of stuff, and that's really hard. I do struggle with it admin, and I do wish that we had a union or some kind of body that looked out for us in that way you know. I'm still trying to find someone or like find the best way to approach these things. Like the gallery system's really good and very supportive in terms of documenting your work, and having it accessible through the gallery website and the physical space, but there's also a lot of administration and organisation that I find really really challenging because it takes away from the making time. Art is a place that allows me to have conversations when I can't find the words to say what I wanna say. It's a peaceful space to protest. It's a learning place, and it's also for Aboriginal people one of the only places that we have autonomy in this country, so I think it's a very very important place for us. It's also a place for economic independence. We don't have that same kind of freedom in other areas in Australia. So that's what art is for me and what it does for me and many others as well.