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21 Feb 13 - 10:19 PM (#3482279) Subject: Obit: Hilda Fish From: freda underhill I'm very sorry to say that my dear friend, Mudcatter Hilda Fish, also known as Dr Pam Dahl-Helm Johnston, died on her motorbike, yesterday 21.2.13. Pam was a strong, loyal, supportive and optimistic woman - a mother, grandmother, Aunty, activist, artist, feminist, and very good friend to many. Pam was an outstanding artist, a loving mother to a large collected family, and an optimistic and strong woman who helped many in her life. Pam was a long term member of the Aussie folk community, I know many will be very sorry to hear this news. Thanks Pam for your friendship, for the laughs and now especially the tears. Like many I feel lucky to have known you. freda |
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21 Feb 13 - 10:25 PM (#3482281) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish From: Ebbie Oh, I am so sorry. I always wished she would post more than she did. An interesting woman. |
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21 Feb 13 - 10:32 PM (#3482282) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish From: katlaughing i saw this on fb and could hardly believe it. we had some wonderful PMs. She was beautiful, knowledgable, someone to be admired and looked up to with respect. my condolences to all her friends and family. thank you, hilda and thanks freda for letting us know. luvyakat |
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21 Feb 13 - 10:32 PM (#3482283) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish From: Alice I am so sorry to hear this, freda. My sympathy to you and all her loved ones and friends. Alice |
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21 Feb 13 - 11:13 PM (#3482292) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: gnu Oh dear. What a shock! Tears indeed. RIP... and thanks. |
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22 Feb 13 - 12:07 AM (#3482295) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: Sandra in Sydney hilda fish - 6 photos RIP friend Opera browser's "My Opera" is going away on March 3, 2014, and for some of us isn't visible at all now. If you can save the images to a new site, please link them from there. ---mudelf |
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22 Feb 13 - 12:15 AM (#3482297) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: freda underhill Thanks for these pix Sandra, I'll send you some more to post, including of some of Pam's artwork. and thanks everyone for your kind words. we have lost a wonderful person. |
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22 Feb 13 - 12:17 AM (#3482298) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: freda underhill HEARTLANDS By Dr. Pam Johnston ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN HEART. My relationship with my heart is close; intimate. I heard it beating before I was born. I have heard it beating all my life. I will hear my last heartbeat as I die. It is what I share with all in the family of humanity. This heart of mine has been elated, has been broken, has despaired, has been both faithful and untrue, is staunch and is weak, and abides. It flows my blood and beats my life and connects me to all who are me and mine, and beyond. It is my life. It holds within it all that I believe and all that I love. The heart has been an ongoing symbol of love. The human heart is difficult for an artist to paint or draw. On the one hand it is such a GOOD symbol as it needs no 'propping', no explanation. We know and understand its symbolism. The problems that arise in the representation of the human heart are not so much related to its symbolism; but more to the risk of sentimentality, of over-statement if you like, or of simplification. It seems logical to me that with my death, all death, comes the cessation of the beating of our human heart. Makes sense doesn't it? The heart stops, the life stops. When I think of the language around the human heart and what that language embodies, it makes even more sense to me that – the heart stops, the life stops. The heart makes us human. Life makes us human. If one stops then of course the other stops. That this is not the case has left me wondering about my heart, your heart, the heart of the matter. I am assured that medically the heart is merely a pump with a job that it is very good at. That job is to circulate the blood throughout the human body. The heart, I am told, has no memory I wonder then, how does it remember to pump…… and pump…… and pump. The heart is not a machine that I can pull apart to examine its intricate engineering features. It is not a machine that is ……. mechanical. In current Australian medical practice and relevant legislation, a person is dead when there is either irreversible cessation of the circulation of blood or irreversible cessation of all function of the brain. When death is determined in the second way, which is current legal and medical definition of death, a person is commonly said to be 'brain dead'. Though the certification of death using a brain function criterion has been closely linked to issues of organ donation and transplantation, the concept of brain death was not developed purely to subserve the interests of transplantation although it is interesting to note that brain death as a final definition of death did come about through discussion on transplant and euthanasia. Although the technological possibilities for transplantation and for maintaining bodily functions in patients with profound brain injuries developed somewhat contemporaneously, at the time when brain death was first described, transplantation was exclusively concerned with the use of organs from subjects in whom cardiac arrest had already occurred and the traditional criteria for death had been met. While most organ donation after death currently occurs from patients certified as dead using the brain function criterion, it is increasingly possible to transplant organs from 'non-beating heart donors' who may or may not also meet the brain function criterion. It is important, therefore, to note that someone who has difficulty accepting the concept of brain death may have no difficulty accepting organ and/or tissue donation after the certification of cardiovascular death. I've found these words that Pam wrote for an exhibition of her work, called Heartlands.. Death of course, must be defined before it can be determined and certified. The certification of death is a quasi-scientific process depending on reasonably objective assessments. The definition of death, however, lies in the philosophical rather than the scientific domain because it involves judgements about the nature of the human person and about what it is for someone to be alive or dead. The terms 'alive' and 'dead' are used in different ways in different contexts, and with considerable social, cultural and historical overtones. In the context of Australian legislation the concept of 'brain death' concerns what it is for a human person to be alive or dead. Various philosophical justifications for a legal definition of death in terms of loss of all brain function have been put forward. The most widely accepted view emphasises the unity of mind and body in the living human being. On this view, the death of a human person is understood to consist in the irreversible loss of the integrated and coordinated life of the person as a single living organism. When this functional unity is lost irreversibly, the person has died, even if 'life' continues at the sub-personal level of cells, individual organs or isolated physiological systems. In the light of this definition of death, medical science seeks to delineate those clinical characteristics which indicate with certainty the loss of all brain function. The concept of 'brain death' is not intended to introduce a novel kind of death, but to identify the irreversible loss of the organic unity and integrated activity of a living human person. The past thirty years have see a reappraisal of both the meaning of, and the criteria for, the certification of human death. The need for this reappraisal has resulted from (i) the development and widespread application of medical technology to support and replace the failing human organ systems, and (ii) the need to resolve controversy surrounding organ donation for purposes of transplantation. These technological advances have challenged traditional and conventional attitudes to death and dying. There have been three traditional clinical markers for death: the absence of consciousness, cessation of breathing, and, once the importance of the circulation was appreciated, the cessation of cardiac function (heart stops beating). These markers are associated with different views of the nature of the human person. While reference to the 'breath of life' has been historically pervasive, since the seventeenth century, especially, some philosophers (following Descartes [1596-1650]) have tended to equate consciousness with 'the person'. In criticising this idea, other philosophers have emphasised the importance of the human body and the embodiment of the person in the natural world. The precise relationship among these three clinical markers of life and death has only become important in recent times. Previously any ambiguity or uncertainty in the assessment of these clinical features was not especially important because they were so closely linked. That is to say, if any of breathing, circulation or consciousness ceased, cessation of the other two would rapidly follow. Any clinical uncertainty was of no particular importance. Medical technology has now severed the links among these three features. Mechanical ventilators can now support respiratory function for an indefinite period after breathing has ceased. Cardiac function can be suspended therapeutically for long periods and restored uneventfully. Cardiac function can also be successfully restored after it has ceased spontaneously. The development of artificial hearts and of cardiac transplantation has allowed people to live on, and indeed to live well, long after their own hearts have been replaced. Reliable mechanical ventilators have enabled patients with spinal cord injuries to continue to be conscious, interactive and intellectually functional in the absence of any form of spontaneous breathing. These technological advances have necessitated a re-evaluation of the centrality of breathing and cardiac function to the understanding of life and death. And therefore my human heart can beat on long after I am certified as dead. This is not an argument for or against a definition of death nor it is an argument for or against organ transplant. I am left wondering what it is about my heart that connects me to all living things. If it is merely a pump whose ability is irrelevant to life and death, why does it break, soar, radiate, love? Why is it my heart that I reach for when I am beyond words and want to communicate deep love, deep loss, deep despair. Without my heart I cannot connect, cannot feel, cannot love, cannot understand the meaning or the connection to life. Yet my heart is a pump medically and legally I am told, that can stop, or not, at death. Death is, as is life, elemental and defining with heart at its centre. The heart has always been part of human belonging and human connection. The heart is part of a spiritual landscape that beats its connectedness to all things living. The Heart has a Land that it wanders, that it occupies, that it claims. That land, HEARTLAND, makes us human. Dr. Pam Johnston, Woolloomooloo. August, 2007 |
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22 Feb 13 - 12:28 AM (#3482299) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: Sandra in Sydney posts by hilda fish |
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22 Feb 13 - 12:41 AM (#3482300) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: JennieG So sorry to hear this.....Hilda was a very interesting woman. Condolences to her family and friends. |
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22 Feb 13 - 01:33 AM (#3482310) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: Maryrrf I am so sorry to hear this. I was her "Secret Santa" one year and we corresponded a bit. As all have said, she was a beautiful and interesting woman. |
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22 Feb 13 - 02:53 AM (#3482316) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21-2-2013 From: My guru always said Very sorry to hear this sad news. Many thanks for sharing the photos and the staory of the heart. Candle lit for this lovely lady! |
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22 Feb 13 - 03:42 AM (#3482324) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney more pics from freda |
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22 Feb 13 - 04:22 AM (#3482335) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Morticia I'm sorry to hear this, I liked her very much and always thought she spoke warmth and sense. |
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22 Feb 13 - 04:44 AM (#3482341) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: John MacKenzie Had the pleasure of meeting up with Pam on a couple of occasions, when she was over in the UK, with an exhibition of her wonderful art, at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. She was every bit as interesting as she would appear in her writings, and, was great company. She will be missed by many in the arts community over here, as well as in OZ. I will certainly miss her. RIP Dr Pam. |
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22 Feb 13 - 07:17 AM (#3482379) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: alanabit I am very sorry to hear that this charming and interesting woman has left us. Thank-you for posting the pictures. |
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22 Feb 13 - 08:25 AM (#3482412) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: gnu Freda... when I said "Tears indeed.", I meant I understand your tears. Quite the gal. |
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22 Feb 13 - 09:31 AM (#3482445) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: catspaw49 Always had a good take on any thread she posted to........As a longtime biker myself I know how easy is it can be to be killed on one. Anyone who rides knows that but anyone who rides knows why they ride as well and know the rewards are worth the risks. Spaw |
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22 Feb 13 - 10:32 AM (#3482464) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST,Stim Over the years, reading her posts, I was struck by her compassion, her intelligence, and her willingness to stand up for things that others would not. I didn't know she was an artist, or a doctor, but i'd kind of guessed that she was beautiful and much loved. I know she will be much missed. |
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22 Feb 13 - 10:49 AM (#3482476) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: frogprince Her deeply intelligent and humane mind was always evident in what she contributed here. Many of us would have wished to know her in person, but at least we were privileged to have her with us "here". |
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22 Feb 13 - 11:53 AM (#3482495) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Waddon Pete I have added Hilda to the "In Memoriam" thread. RIP Peter |
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22 Feb 13 - 02:52 PM (#3482553) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: jacqui.c RIP Hilda. Good thoughts going to all those who will miss her. |
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22 Feb 13 - 02:56 PM (#3482555) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: freda underhill Thanks Peter for adding her to the "In Memorium" thread, and everyone for your comments. It still seems so hard to speak of her in the past tense. Hilda was an Indigenous Australian, she worked with women prisoners for many years teaching art in prisons. Her doctorate was in the arts and she was an activist for women's rights and Indigenous rights. She was a union delegate, representing Indigenous teachers in prison around the state in negotiations with prison education officials. She also spoke internationally at feminist conferences, and at a conference on Genocide. She had exhibitions of her art in Australia, the UK and the US. Those who met her will know she had a very broad aussie accent, great sense of humour and was a very stylish and beautiful women. She was somewhere in her 60s, I think, because she had at least three 60th birthday parties :-) Here is a link to a photo of Hilda in a book by her adopted mother, the famous Australian activist Ruby LangfordGinibi I first met Hilda in 1986 at an artist's co-op gallery called Kelly St Kolektiv, in Ultimo, Sydney. Her partner Butch is a musician in the band Full Circle, which plays Irish music. Butch is a lovely, gregarious, spontaneous man who adores Pam. I was with them when they first met at a folk fest at St Albans outside Sydney. Pam and I were watching his band perform at the Fickle Wombat, a coffee house in St Albans. In the break, Butch came over, and introduced himself to Pam by dropping on his knees next to her with his hands extended in a prayer position. It was love at first sight, and they have had several very happy years together. My last memory of her is a visit two weeks ago. She came to my home, we talked for three hours. She told me she had just been diagnosed with emphysema. Despite this she looked very well, radiant even, and seemed glowing in health and confidence. |
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22 Feb 13 - 03:00 PM (#3482556) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Joybell Such sad news. Thank you Freda and Sandra for sharing thoughts and pictures. Joy |
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22 Feb 13 - 04:34 PM (#3482591) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Azizi "Hilda Fish" was a strong, compassionate, creative woman. She was one of the sistas here who had my back and I had hers. I learned from Hilda and I appreciated and still appreciate her spirit. May she rest in peace. |
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22 Feb 13 - 04:45 PM (#3482596) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: wysiwyg Tears here also. God be good to her. ~S~ |
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22 Feb 13 - 04:51 PM (#3482599) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: freda underhill thanks, lovely women, for your comments. |
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23 Feb 13 - 01:55 PM (#3482942) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: MBSLynne So sorry to hear this. RIP Hilda Fish. Love Lynne |
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23 Feb 13 - 03:35 PM (#3482981) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Janie Always valued her contributions to Mudcat. My heartfelt condolences to all who knew her well. |
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23 Feb 13 - 07:27 PM (#3483069) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST,C.Moore Hardy Thank you for adding me to this thread. I only knew 'Hilda' as Dr Pam Johnson and this is wild to see her as 'another' persona. She did have many lives. She was AMAZING, Generous, loved and productive. She was a mother, grandmother, Artist, poet, writer, historian, creator and lover. I am lucky enough to have been part of her circle of artschool friends & co-collaborator of 2+2=5. We have all been working on some new work, which she found challenging, but enjoyable. To see her as 'Hilda' is again testamony to her creative spirit. She was so wonderful. Thank you for sharing this with me. & much love C.Moore H |
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23 Feb 13 - 09:12 PM (#3483116) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Charley Noble So sorry to hear this. Charley Noble |
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23 Feb 13 - 09:36 PM (#3483131) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: LilyFestre Such sad news. :( Rest in sweet peace. Michelle |
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23 Feb 13 - 11:01 PM (#3483143) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney I've posted 2 more pics first was sent by freda, second I took when Charley & JudyB were last in Sydney - 2008. Somehow I never had my camera with me when I visited Pam - dunno why, her house was full of treasures, her own art & that of others, including photos taken by her partner Butch. I only have a few photos of Pam & Butch. sandra |
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24 Feb 13 - 06:41 PM (#3483382) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST,Maria Time passes, a gem stone emerged cut and shaped by a full life revealing facets and windows. Raw edges aris with grinding life experiences complement a constant light within that periodically explodes into a spectrum of unpredictable colour now returned an afterglow of a precious memories |
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25 Feb 13 - 01:43 AM (#3483439) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney thanks, Maria I found this description of Pam in an on-line journal http://www.ub.edu/dpfilsa/jeasa4pamjohnston3.pdf Vol.3. No.1, 2012 Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia [JEASA] Dr Pam Johnston obtained a PhD in Creative Art and Design from Wollongong University in 1998, the first Indigenous Australian to do so, and a further PhD in Education in 2007. She has worked in Women's Refuges, Rape Crisis Centres and Women's Health. Dr Johnston has been a teacher within the prison system for many years. Most recently she has researched and written curriculums for women and Indigenous inmates within the New South Wales prison system. Dr. Johnston sees herself primarily as a visual artist and secondarily as a writer. She has exhibited and is represented in collections within Australia as well as in Belgium, England, Scotland, France, and the United States of America. She has written for various magazines in Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, and England. |
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25 Feb 13 - 05:01 PM (#3483660) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST good stuff ---and bringing up her children and and always being there, Extraordinary loyalty for her old friends - 35 years for me |
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25 Feb 13 - 11:38 PM (#3483753) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: meself Very sad. RIP. |
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26 Feb 13 - 01:51 AM (#3483778) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: freda underhill The funeral is this Saturday, 10.30 am, anyone who will be in Sydney can pm me for the details, Sandra, I've already sent them to you. Remembering our beautiful Pam / Hilda Fish, a comet of creativity and joy across the horizon. freda |
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27 Feb 13 - 10:34 PM (#3484559) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST Great words being said here in memory of Pam |
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02 Mar 13 - 06:54 PM (#3485631) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney Pam's funeral was yesterday - talk about a cast of thousands! tears & laughter & many good memories of a remarkable woman. I've added photos of the memorial & wake here sandra |
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02 Mar 13 - 06:56 PM (#3485632) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Bobert Sniff.... What a bummer... B~ |
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02 Mar 13 - 07:34 PM (#3485648) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: gnu Thanks for the pics, Sandra. |
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03 Mar 13 - 02:39 AM (#3485708) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney this time I took lots of pics of her art! |
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03 Mar 13 - 05:07 AM (#3485721) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: John MacKenzie I just love that pic of her and Butch, where he's all suited up. She looks so happy. I still find it really hard to think she's dead, she was such a force of life. I still have to face taking her phone number off my mobile. It seems such a final act. I still have about three friends who have passed, listed on my phone, and I can't bring myself to delete their names. God speed, Pam. |
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03 Mar 13 - 05:15 AM (#3485725) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: GUEST,Tina Sandra thank you so much for these photos. Lovely to share in some way from Kendal uk x |
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03 Mar 13 - 05:40 PM (#3485985) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney John, I can remember friends taking 12 months to slowly clear out their mother's stuff from the house they all lived in as it would be the removal of her personality from their lives. Tina, if you are on facebook, I've been told there are also lots of pics & I assume Butch might post some of mine there, too sandra |
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04 Mar 13 - 11:40 AM (#3486238) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: John MacKenzie I have some somewhere, that I took at the Brewery Arts centre. Must try to find them. |
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04 Mar 13 - 12:33 PM (#3486275) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: John MacKenzie 3 Pics here . Thought I had more, including loads of her artwork. Will keep looking. I do have a painting I did under her tutelage at the art centre, that year. Dot painting, on a stone slate. |
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05 Mar 13 - 03:55 AM (#3486491) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: Sandra in Sydney please post a pic of your painting. Thanks for the other pics |
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21 Feb 14 - 09:09 AM (#3603505) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: freda underhill remembering Pam, one year on ...... yes, we miss her... freda |
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25 Feb 15 - 04:03 AM (#3689660) Subject: RE: Obit: Hilda Fish 21 Feb 2013 From: freda underhill This week is the second anniversary of my dear friend Pam's death. I'm fondly remembering her strength, her optimism and her kindness. She was a wonderful person, and I value many happy memories and shared experiences. Just sayin'.. |