Resistances in Indigenous Design

Tiriki Onus is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Warrung man and Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, University of Melbourne. He is an artist, curator, academic, filmmaker and opera singer who, through the grace and generosity of local elders and community, continues to practice his art and culture on the lands of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri peoples.

M.Sci-Comm. B.Design

Iwi/Tribal affliations: Rongomaiwahine, Kahungunu, Pāhauwera. Ngāi Tahu Matawhaiti

Resident in her iwi (tribal) territories on the East Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, Desna is actively involved in indigenous discourse, reinscribing ancestral narratives in cultural landscapes, advocating respect and reciprocal relationships with Place. An Ambassador for Landscape Foundation NZ and Communications Advisor Māori for Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, Desna collaborates with a diverse range of indigenous communities, designers, artists, scientists, academics, public servants and business professionals.

Artist and curator Lisa Waup is a mixed-cultural First Nations woman. Often drawing upon personal experiences, her multidisciplinary practice spans jewellery, experimental printmaking, photography, sculpture, textiles, fashion and weaving. Waup uses symbols, text and materials that connect her to family, Country and history, weaving stories from past, present and future into contemporary forms.

Jenna Lee is a mixed-race Larrakia, Wardaman and Karajarri contemporary artist and graphic designer with mixed Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Anglo-Australian ancestry. As an interdisciplinary artist, Lee works across installation, projection, photography and sculpture with a reoccurring use of paper, the book, language and text. Formally trained as a graphic designer Lee works as an independent designer specialising in book cover, publication and exhibition identity design. Lee has designed for publishers and institutions like UQP, Hardie Grant, Fremantle Press, NGA, MUMA, IMA, Powerhouse Museum, TarraWarra and Rising Festival.