My Story

Linda Lee Loo (nee Jackson)

I started painting as a journey to self healing journey,  I spent many years dealing with depression and the effects it had on myself and family, and working through to my road of recovery.

It took many years to express my feelings as I thought I was the only person dealing with the anger, hurt and emotions.  I felt ashamed, it felt like all the worlds eyes where watching me, I didnt want to associate with people, I would sleep all day in a dark room. I had to be reminded to do my normal day to day routine.

I learnt that there is a solution to every problem, it may not happen over night but believe me it will happen.  I also learnt to let go of the hatered from the inside to out.  

I learnt that it only takes one word to help another and I am no longer ashamed to share my journey and sharing just one word to help others.

After 7 long years and some of those years I spent some time in hospital, whilst in hospital instead of lying in bed all day sleeping I had to attend art therapy classes, through the art therapy classes, I was encouraged to cut up magazines to express my feelings or to find words from the magazine to tell and write about my feelings, I was also encouraged to collect items that represented a feeling and how that item made me feel.  Then one day I was encouraged to paint my feelings, I painted anger, hurt, hatred, happiness, love and family.  I started to paint so much art work in my hospital room there was only a path to my bed and bathroom.  

I was encouraged to continue to paint by my doctor, I gave alot of my paintings and work away however continued to paint at home for therapy before I had the courage to ask a company, True Blue to display and sell my art work in their shop.  After listening to feedback it gave me more confidence to venture out at display my artwork at community market events. 

I was born in Corrigin WA.

As a child my family would always go on long drives for fishing and hunting trips.  It would always be us and other family and friends.

My father was a ganger on the railways so growing up along the transline (Zanthus and Golden Ridge) is something that is forever in my heart.  With dad being the ganger there was only 7 houses and 7 other families, it meant he had to make sure the homes and surrounding areas where always maintained which meant I was dads shadow when having to do some of the chores.  I would help dad with the dunny run (empting the thunder box as it was called) collect and chop wood for the copper stove so we had hot water for bath time and washing clothes, the wood would be used to heat up the wooden stove for cooking and to warm the house, heat up the wooden iron to iron our clothes and best of all the fire place, an area where I would sit with my family, helping with the chores I recieved 2 bob (20 cents) and that 2 bob went a long way when the tea and sugar train (a train to supply railway workers and families) would come through on a Friday, it come from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie stopping at Zanthus along the way. (The Zanthus railway stationmasters cabin is now located at the Railway museum in Bassendean). 

We had a generator for power and if that run out of fuel dad would always light the tilly and we would sit around telling stories or go out and lay on the water tank looking into the dark sky with thousand of stars, with dad pointing out stars and there meanings or just telling us a story.

I always had a new bike for Christmas, in the bush dad made us a bike track, motorbike track and car track dad would drive us around in the car and dinky on the motor bike.

When living in Golden Ridge we would always go prospecting, collecting old bottles and coins, sometimes finding a small piece of gold.  A bus would drive from Boulder to collect us children to take to school but we were more worried about who was going to get the big bus tubes for swimming in the dams.

We then moved to Perth where I attended Como Senior High School.  

I studied at the Marr Mooditj Foundation and completed my Aboriginal Health Workers Certificate and Diploma in Aboriginal Health Care.

I have been married for 30 years, have 1 child and 4 grandchildren.

Remembering all the good things as a child and the love of my husband, son and family is what gave me the strenght to change my life and to where I am at today. I learnt to love myself again.

 

Linda Lee Loo