DRS Student Bursary Report
DRS Student Bursary Report My current research seeks to understand the disruptive and transformative impact of the introduction and sustainable integration of digital design technologies in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. In particular, how vector-based graphic design tools and techniques can create new creative styles and livelihoods for young people living and working in these contexts. The United Nations Creative Economy Report, details the intrinsic impact of creativity on the economy, as well as how it benefits culture, trade and developing communities (2013). The report highlights that there is an urgent need to find new development pathways that encourage creativity and innovation in the pursuit of inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth and development. Within an Australian context, the critical question centers around this intangible capital and how to balance cultural preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture with the goal of stimulating tradition-based creativity and for it to contribution to development. This research focuses on achieving this goal through digital design technologies, specifically vector-based outcomes, building on the latent creativity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a means of sustainable development. This research focuses on the way Indigenous young people can create and renegotiate interactions with digital design technologies. This allows for an exploration of how different knowledge traditions engage with technology and create new potential sites of innovation. With the DRS Student bursary I was able to travel to these remote contexts, making invaluable connections and beginning to understand the social, cultural and economic climate of these communities. In September 2016 I travelling to Alice Springs, attending the Desert Mob Symposium, where over 30 remote Indigenous Art Centre’s came together, sharing stories and discussing new innovative art techniques and broader issues within their communities (Desert Mob, 2016). This symposium offered a unique insight into the lives of Aboriginal artists living in the vast and spectacular outback country of Central Australia. I was able to see, and understand the current art and technology practices happening throughout the Central Desert and the current barriers of accessibility, connection and economic engagement. These insights and case studies are crucial to my research, to see contemporary tools and techniques being utilised in creative practice. ‘Alanya’ was one such case study - a cultural magazine, created by the remote Warburton community (see Image 1). It is Ngaanyatjarra slang for ‘looking good’ and through design, fashion and creativity, is a bold expression of contemporary Ngaanyatjarra culture, created by young adults. It is a fantastic precedent for highlighting Indigenous capacity for design and an Indigenous approach to design. They tell their own stories, in their own way. Understanding an Indigenous Knowledge approach to design, art, storytelling and iconography is critical to my PhD project, and beginning to understand this knowledge is only possible from physically being in these remote locations, and connecting with the people and their country. During this research trip I was also able to visit the remote community of Hermannsburg, known in the local Western Arrernte language as Ntaria (see orange dot in map below).
DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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Image 1 Being able to meet, chat, drink tea, and talk and laugh informally with members of the Hermannsburg community was essential for relationship building and a participatory design/participatory action approach within this research context. Being these, listening and understanding was a crucial first step. This community will form the basis of my research fieldwork. Indigenous design in Australia has existed for over 30,000 years (Morphy, 1991). It is evident in the pigment rock art (see Image 2) and the petroglyphs (see Image 3) around the Central Design region. Being able to see these works in context was a highlight of the trip. These ancient artifacts show how these stylized symbols have been utilized for storytelling for thousands of years. It’s incredible to see the same iconography still maintained within contemporary indigenous creative practices today.
Image 2 & 3 DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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I would like to sincerely thank the whole DRS team for this opportunity. It has been an invaluable trip that has been crucial to my research project. To have this support early on in the project has been fantastic. I look forward to sharing more results from my research with the DRS community in the future.
Nicola St John, PhD Candidate | www.nicolastjohn.co Faculty of Health, Arts and Design | Centre for Design Innovation Swinburne University of Technology
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Image 5 DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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Image list Image 1: Alanya magazine. Source: www.alanya.com.au Image 2: Mutitjulu cave painting at Uluru. Image: Nicola St John Image 3: Petroglyphs at N’Dhala Gorge. Image: Nicola St John Image 4: Nicola at Trephina Gorge. Image: Nicola St John Image 5: Uluru at sunset. Image: Nicola St John
Bibliography Desert Mob (2016). Accessed October 1 2016 http://desart.com.au/desert-mob-symposium-2016 Morphy, H. (1991). Ancestral connections: Art and an Aboriginal system of knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. United Nations. (2013). Creative economy report. Accessed 5 May from ttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-economy-report-2013special-edition/
DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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Image 1 Being able to meet, chat, drink tea, and talk and laugh informally with members of the Hermannsburg community was essential for relationship building and a participatory design/participatory action approach within this research context. Being these, listening and understanding was a crucial first step. This community will form the basis of my research fieldwork. Indigenous design in Australia has existed for over 30,000 years (Morphy, 1991). It is evident in the pigment rock art (see Image 2) and the petroglyphs (see Image 3) around the Central Design region. Being able to see these works in context was a highlight of the trip. These ancient artifacts show how these stylized symbols have been utilized for storytelling for thousands of years. It’s incredible to see the same iconography still maintained within contemporary indigenous creative practices today.
Image 2 & 3 DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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I would like to sincerely thank the whole DRS team for this opportunity. It has been an invaluable trip that has been crucial to my research project. To have this support early on in the project has been fantastic. I look forward to sharing more results from my research with the DRS community in the future.
Nicola St John, PhD Candidate | www.nicolastjohn.co Faculty of Health, Arts and Design | Centre for Design Innovation Swinburne University of Technology
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Image 5 DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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Image list Image 1: Alanya magazine. Source: www.alanya.com.au Image 2: Mutitjulu cave painting at Uluru. Image: Nicola St John Image 3: Petroglyphs at N’Dhala Gorge. Image: Nicola St John Image 4: Nicola at Trephina Gorge. Image: Nicola St John Image 5: Uluru at sunset. Image: Nicola St John
Bibliography Desert Mob (2016). Accessed October 1 2016 http://desart.com.au/desert-mob-symposium-2016 Morphy, H. (1991). Ancestral connections: Art and an Aboriginal system of knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. United Nations. (2013). Creative economy report. Accessed 5 May from ttp://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-economy-report-2013special-edition/
DRS Report: Nicola St John, 2016
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