Image: Jimmy Frank Jupurrurla – Wilya Janta Board Director & Tennant Creek Brio Artist with his design for the Wilya Junta logo.
In the February 2024 IEC projects-in-progress meeting, the Australian team began by acknowledging the land they are working on, following an important protocol for First Nations communities in Australia. Traditionally, visitors would send a message acknowledging when they are entering someone else’s land, this remains a sign of respect for the relationship traditional custodians have with their land.
In their presentation (media available below), the team then shared updates on their arts-informed Indigenous research (AIIR) and their work supporting he Aboriginal-led organization, Wilya Janta, which works to make culturally safe and climate-appropriate housing widely for remote Warumungu communities.
The team uses AIIR methodology as an organic approach to data collection and analysis. AIIR is responsive to the community, aligned with Wilya Janta’s values, and counts the kind of things that matter for the community’s priorities. They emphasize that researchers are not central to the project but rather provide support.
This work necessitates engaging multiple audiences and recognizing the inherent challenges in bridging different perspectives, Vicki Saunders likened it to “circles and squares,” as she acknowledged there can never be a truly perfect fit; there will always be some mismatched overlap. Working with that knowledge, they employ an concept called “parallaxic praxis,” borrowed from engineering it refers to the shift in an object’s shape as the observer changes position. AIIR serves to shift perspectives, using the arts as a buffer zone to render complex issues more meaningful and understandable. By gathering data in various forms and synthesizing it through parallaxic praxis, they aim to present meaningful and actionable insights.
The team is collaborating with Indigenous animators to produce a series of animations about the Wilya Junta story, with the first film expected to be completed by the end of the year. The film will serve as an additional form of communication, aiming to share perspectives from the community with government stakeholders and beyond.
“To be able to ask
Our first questions come from the heart
Do we have the courage?How will our words be used?
And how do you express in words of science
Excerpt from Recovering methodologically (2010), a poem by Vicki Saunders
Questions better asked of spirit and through art?”
Editor’s Note: For IEC the disparate perspective and locales of the teams has been one of the great joys of the project— but also one of its unique challenges. The organizers are grateful to the team from Australia for finding time— even in the wee hours of the morning— to make this in progress meeting possible!