Marijke is currently in her final year of completing a cross-border PhD study in International law under the supervision of the University of New South Wales Law & Justice and the University of California Berkeley Center for Race & Gender. Marijke’s PhD study, Welcoming the Unwelcome: (Re)claiming space as the Black Indigenous Rainbow ‘Other’, explores through an intersectional Indigenous Queer lens the invisibility, and hyper visibility, of First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples within their Cape York Peninsula communities, including the wider mainstream community and legal system (national/international). Marijke’s PhD Thesis addresses the multidimensional discrimination First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples face both within, and outside, their Cape York communities. Marijke will be submitting her PhD Thesis in 2025 and her work has already been identified as a valuable source to draw from in the re-imagining and development of future law, policy and reform in the Indigenous gender and sexuality space on both the national and international stage.
In 2025 Marijke will commence the second stage of her PhD study—a Human rights photography grassroots project titled, Welcoming the Unwelcome: A Black Rainbow Homecoming. This Cape York Peninsula-based project will span 3-4 years and will involve Marijke taking portraits and collecting contemporary narratives from First Nations LGBTQIA+ Sistergirl and Brotherboy peoples about culture and community life. All participants will be photographed in clothing, poses and locations of their choosing. Portraits and personal contemporary narratives collected will then be collated into a photography book, marking the first ever photographic and narrative celebration of Cape York Indigenous gender and sexuality diversity. The project aims to challenge existing dehumanising violent colonial queerphobic stereotypes about Indigenous peoples expressing diverse gender and sexual identities in the Cape. All proceeds generated from the book will be returned directly to the project participants to help build financial wellness and autonomy for Cape York Black Rainbow mob.
