30/07/2026
I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Norma MacDonald to talk about the story behind Missing Pieces. It was one of those conversations that stay with you long after they end.
Norma spoke about growing up with a deep fear of being taken to the missions as a young Aboriginal girl. That fear remained with her well into adulthood until, in her thirties, she finally asked her mother about her own story. Her mother had been taken and placed in a home, and hearing that experience firsthand became the catalyst for Norma's journey to understand why Aboriginal children were removed from their families.
That search led her into anthropology, where she uncovered letters, government documents and photographs that revealed not only the broader history of the Stolen Generations, but also the deeply personal stories of the people who lived through it.
As Norma explained, this wasn't something she researched from a distance.
"It felt like I was there. I was really in it."
One photograph in particular became the foundation for Missing Pieces. It showed four boys who had been taken from their families, standing together and holding drawings. Norma kept the boys true to the original photograph because, as she told me, "They were the ones who were there." Instead of drawings, however, she painted jigsaw pieces that don't quite fit together. Within those pieces are fragments of family, mothers, fathers and loved ones, representing children trying to make sense of lives that had been broken apart.
Another element is the tree at the centre of the painting. The Tree of Life appears throughout Norma's work, but here its deep roots carry the names of families and people who were taken. Speaking about those roots, Norma said something that has stayed with me:
"The roots run deep for us."
Those few words capture so much of what Missing Pieces represents. Despite the trauma of removal, the connection to Country, family and culture remains. Like the roots of an old tree, those connections continue to endure, strengthen and grow.
It was an honour to hear the story behind this remarkable work directly from Norma and to share a small part of it here.
