Creative Director of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Playwright and Director
I have advocated for understanding around the lived experience of the virus and smashing related stigma in the Indigenous community over the last 15 years through the works Chopped Liver, Body Armour and Viral -are you the cure?
I am a Jagera/Butchulla woman from South-Eastern Queensland.
I am currently the Creative Director of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company and a playwright and director.
I contracted hepatitis C when I was 15 (in 1995) through shared IV use. I struggled with my Hep C status for 20 years while simultaneously writing the hepatitis C related works through ILBIJERRI.
I successfully cleared the virus in 2010 and finally felt empowered to openly discuss my status and begin using my personal experience as a tool of advocacy.
Hepatitis C is not an individual virus – it impacts our whole community as a whole and as long as the virus remains a dirty secret and something shrouded in stigma we will not be able to seek the healing we all need.
The power for change starts with us and the facts are simple; hepatitis C is a serious virus and it can kill you. Treatment is available; it’s safe and free. The only thing that can keep hepatitis C viral is us and how we view it. We need to overcome it, instead of using it as a weapon of judgment and shame. – Quote from VIRAL- Are you the Cure? by Maryanne Sam
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands where we work - the lands of the Woi-Wurrung Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations. We express our gratitude to them for their continued care and curation of these lands and waters. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.
LiverWELL observes and honours the Kulin Nation's intrinsic connection to land, sky and water, and the creator Bunjil. LiverWELL is committed to being led and informed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on bridging health outcomes for communities and improving liver health.
