Designing on Ntaria Country: telling stories with new tools

Abstract

Indigenous creative expressions are ingrained with knowledge, through an inherited visual language of signs and symbols learnt from within culture, grounded in country and identity. The power and strength of this knowledge remains embedded across diverse creative mediums, contemporary tools and technologies. Yet the application of digital drawing within remote Indigenous contexts remains largely unexplored. This research sought to understand a Western Arrernte perspective of digital drawing, through examining the digital creative outcomes of Indigenous youth from Ntaria - a remote community located on Western Arrernte Country in the Central Desert of Australia. Reported here, are findings on the students' use and understanding of these new tools as they moved from analogue to digital drawing for the first time. Introducing design tools to young adults from Ntaria enabled an exploration of digital drawing as a vehicle to develop 'designerly styles' as they re-imagined drawing in a digital way. What emerged from this project was a space for young adults from Ntaria to express their identity and give voice to their contemporary experiences. Ntaria 'designerly styles' are embedded within Western Arrernte cultural practice and reaffirm traditional visual language within a digital landscape. Results further reveal digital drawing can engage and foster the development of design-based creative practices for young people living in remote contexts, as well as longer-term economic and enterprise opportunities.