CAN’s experiences of using contemporary art and technology to unlock ancient stories embedded in Country were the subject of a six-minute presentation, by CEO Danielle Antaki, at the 2024 Indian Ocean Craft Triennial conference. 

Danielle spoke about CAN’s cultural mapping process and how we collaborate with Noongar Elders, community and artists to create collaborative community-led artworks that map First Nations’ language, knowledge, stories and culture.

Danielle joined our King Street Arts Centre neighbours Regional Arts WA, as well as ART ON THE MOVE, Aboriginal Art Centre Hub Western Australia and World Crafts Council – Australia in a pecha kucha session in which each organisation presents 20 slides for 20 seconds each, resulting in a series of super-snappy cultural tours.

Here she reflects on the experience of speaking at the IOTA conference:

What is wonderful about the IOTA conference and exhibitions is this sense that we are all part of a rich and varied network of artists and inspirations that extend out beyond our own little pockets.

The discussions on the day I attended the conference were diverse, varying from how the concept of art and craft making can exist within a circular economy - (like do we really need more stuff?! … But it is such beautiful stuff!) to how cloth can embody our bodies, to the use of corrosion casting as a metaphor for the fragility of our ecology, to unravelling the cultural narratives of temple decorations in Himachel Pradesh.

The exhibitions proved even more so, and I have only scratched the surface of what is on offer. A highlight was attending the artists’ talk at the exhibition at the Shipwreck Museum which featured two of CAN’s artist alumni Sultana Shamshi (who will be running a creative workshop at CAN’s professional development day Making Time) and Susie Vickery. Their exquisite whimsical collaboration Bollywood Badmashes Go Bush, a gorgeous textile embroidery incorporating local plants and found objects, is a must-see.

Getting the opportunity to add to this mix with a discussion of CAN’s eight-year history of facilitating cultural mapping projects across Noongar Boodjar was a buzz. Condensing this into a six-minute pecha kucha was a challenge, but one I was willing to accept. 

And it found me discovering in a sentence the power of our cultural mapping processes:

“This really is community-led cultural change…  through honouring the meanings, histories and perspectives that subvert the dominant social, political and economic narratives of landscape - these processes find and celebrate the artist and storyteller in everyone."

In a way the beauty of the whole IOTA concept is about just that - investigating and celebrating the plethora of unique creative perspectives, practices and aesthetics from around the Indian Ocean.