Leafing through fragmentary records from the 1800s, an image of Jasmin Sheppard’s great grandparents began to emerge: a Tagalaka woman and a Chinese migrant seeking gold in Northern Queensland.

This discovery would inform the story of Two Blood , a work that sees Sheppard tie explosive physicality with unwavering truth-telling of First Nations stories, national identity, and belonging. As story advisor and co-choreographer, it was essential to represent her lineage and Australian history in an honest way.

“It has been driven and drawn from my family’s history and cultural history,” Sheppard tells InReview.

“There was a lot of dreaming into what might have been, so we don’t know a lot about my great grandparents and the realities of their everyday. What we do know is that there’

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