A sweet aroma lingers through distant memories — a scent triggering childhood nostalgia of frolicking around the streets and backyards of my hometown. Migrating to Australia from an early age, I had often questioned my own identity within a western context. A challenge of battling through my early years of self-identity, in which I unintentionally succumbed to the eradication of my heritage. My early twenties became a journey of reconnecting with my roots. Utilising art as a tool to trace my ancestral roots, I often travel back to the Philippines to visit new and beloved places — finding so much joy in exchanging stories and memories with my close family and relatives. Setting a domestic scene within my current home in the Victorian bushland, Our First Harvest is an ode to my late Lolo whose love and knowledge for the plants and their fruits became an important part of my own journey into motherhood. Acknowledging the historic and current significance of sustainable farming, my partner and I hope to continue to pass on this tradition to our children, paying respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of the land in which we work and live on.