SPOTLIGHT: 2022 MakeSpace Resident Bel Mac
Headshot of Bel Mac
What are three things we should know about you?
1. I love to sing, it's my oxygen.
2. Being a grown up and an adult is overrated. There’s no such thing as growing up. It’s absolute bollocks.
3. Baby smells are amazing.
Tell us about yourself?
I’m a single mum and halfway to an empty nest. My two oldest boys have moved out and I have my younger two at home. They’re 11 and 13, my daughter has special needs, so when I’m not here, I’m doing my best to empower them, to elevate them and educate them, and make good humans. I’m also soon to start at Radio Adelaide as an Indigenous Programs Coordinator which is fabulous, I can’t wait. I also do stand-up comedy and open mics, as well as sitting in my garden under fairy lights. Fairy lights are the best thing in the world.
I am a floater. I float because if I commit to one thing as impeccably, it takes away from somewhere else. So I can float and give and do bits and pieces which I think is another reason why this is so awesome, because this is for me. It isn’t to fill a need for money, or to make sure someone is educated, or to save or change the world, it’s just for me.
How long have you been involved at ActNow Theatre?
Around a year ago I received a link from a friend of mine who does art as well and has worked with ActNow, and initially I wasn’t overly aware of how profound ActNow was. I followed the link and auditioned for Rachel from Responding to Racism in the workplace and then did the facilitator training.
I’ve found that it’s very safe for anyone in these walls and it’s not common to find.
What are you looking forward to the most about your residency?
I am so excited to fully allow myself to completely “be” in every aspect that is. Not just the indigenous side, not just the woman side, not just the LGBTQI side, not just pigeonholed into whatever small parts feed within the most places in society, but just a place where I’m able to fully blossom and see what that’s like.
Why did this residency feel like a good fit for you at this moment of your career?
I think that between my life experiences, my maturity and my healing, I have a perspective that allows me to be able to tell a story in a way that is both true for me and respectful of my beliefs.
What social justice issues are important to you?
All of them. I think that if we decide to pick and choose what we care about, it kind of nullifies what we care about. I’m really done picking and choosing what we care about. I’d like to think that if there is any kind of injustice, regardless of who, or how, or when, that I would speak up and try to make a difference regardless of who I’m with.
If you could have a meal with any person, living or dead, who would it be and why?
It would be my Pa. I never met him and he was angry and died of a broken heart. I’d let him know that everything is okay.
My mother was 19 when he died and never knew that he was aboriginal, he said he was Greek. Once he died, she went through all of his papers and found out that he had been grabbed on a mission and given an honorary white certificate along with other “bits and pieces.” She had to piece it all together.
He used to tell my mum stories by writing in the sand and my mum never understood that that was a cultural thing, as well as lots of other aspects of her upbringing that were just not spoken about. This was a real space of finding out who you are later in life and then claiming it and working out what is for you and where you fit within that narrative.
She also found all his poetry. My mum always said that I wrote horrible poetry because his was all about landscapes and country and then she found other poetry of his. He wrote poetry just like mine. He had such depression and was so sad with where he fit in and where he didn’t and all that kind of stuff. I always felt so alone growing up. It wasn’t until I saw his writing that I realised he was with me the whole time.
So yeah, I’ll sit and eat with him and let him know that things got a lot better.