I Used to Walk so Softly on this Land

I Used to Walk So Softly on this Land explores my holistic and interrelated approach to creative practice. Through my Indigenous standpoint, the creative practice research focuses on concepts like Blood Memory, ceremony and culture, contemporary and historical mark-making, and ‘not leaving traces’. Privileging repetitive learning and relational ways of knowing, the dissertation is written through auto-ethnographic reflection and verbatim interview to complement the core creative practice through a connected series of artworks: The Boy on the Side of the Road and the Bush Fire series. As a way to continue connection to Country, these paintings conceptually and materially connect my experience of Australian bushfires to the idea of an uncontrollable child. Further, Talking Circles are explored as a collaborative and cultural form of making and sharing of knowledge through the interrelation of yarning, creative practice, and community. Through the visual, written and oral narration of stories of both trauma and resilience, I Used to Walk So Softly on this Land makes contributions to both contemporary art and Indigenous studies while persistently challenging institutional hierarchies of knowledge.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this thesis and associated project files may contain the images, voices or names of people who have since passed away.