Conscious Collective - drawing on cultural knowledge and creative art practices

Background: While current trends indicate an increase of creative collaborations between Indigenous Australian artists and their non-indigenous colleagues, such events remain unusual. The multi-media exhibition, 'Conscious Collective - drawing on cultural knowledge and creative art practices' showcased five such artist researchers work as part of an international referred conference. Research significance The significance of the exhibition 'Conscious Collective - drawing on cultural knowledge and creative art practices' is in how it for grounded the importance of collaborative visual incentives as a method to further understand notions of Australian identity and heritage within an international arts research context. Artworks were selected by members of , The College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, 'Drawing out' steering committee. The artworks were exhibited as part of the 2012 'Drawing Out conference', a University of the Arts London and RMIT University international three day conference hosted by The University of the Arts London, England UK. Contribution The conference exhibition provided a rare opportunity to examine contemporary concepts of Australian society and heritage by Indigenous non-indigenous practitioners, through multi-disciplinary creative arts methods. Works included, film & sound, painting and photography. All works, as a collaborative incentive responded to the broader scholarly themes identified as part of the referred conference proceedings.