Indigenous Futures: Embodied Knowledges

Embodied Knowledges

The day opened with a welcome and acknowledgement by Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta; Adjunct Curator of Indigenous Art, Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational) and Helen O’Malley (Curator of International Art, Tate), followed by a session on ‘Embodied Knowledges’. This panel explored land-based epistemologies, anti-colonial methodologies and forms of community collaboration grounded in intergenerational exchange.

Artist, poet and musician Niillas Holmberg (Sámi, Ohcejohka/Utsjoki) began with song – a yoik (duoj/joik), framing it as both a welcome and an invocation of his homeland, its waters and the salmon-fishing community he’s part of. He described a yoik as a living, relational form of storytelling: a conversation with the land, that carries values, memory and ecological knowledge across generations.

Holmberg reflected on Sámi pedagogies, where learning is grounded in experience: storytelling through music, writing and acting is passed down by elders as practical and unique knowledge. He noted that while elders often speak through metaphor and idiom, his contemporary poetic practice reflects Sámi values through new linguistic forms. Yoiking today, he explained, continues to assert Sámi land rights as well as cultural and ancestral connection.

Dr Kelli Cole (Warumungu and Luritja), lead curator of Emily Kam Kngwarray, spoke of her country in Central Australia and how knowledge is embedded in song, dance and the visual art of her people. She met Kngwarray at age eleven and described how the artist expressed the stories of her country – its yams, rocks, waters and women’s practices – through batik and, later, on canvas.

Cole emphasised the collaborative curatorial process, acknowledging many in the Alhalkere community by name for their central role in shaping the exhibition. After 35 years of displacement due to annexation, the community returned to Country for a women’s camp, where they shared stories and listened to recordings of Kngwarray singing on Country – a gesture honouring ancestors and reconnecting cultural memory. Ceremony, as shown in the film in the current Emily Kam Kngwarray exhibition, is an important part of Indigenous practice, as is the process of preparing for ceremony: gathering ochre and mixing it with emu fat and charcoal, and ‘painting up’.

Cole traced Kngwarray’s rise from her early batik works in the 1970s to international acclaim, noting her inclusion in significant exhibitions and collections worldwide, and how she is now collected by Steve Martin and Oprah Winfrey, among others. She also discussed how Kngwarray’s work is often misread through a white critical lens in reviews, underscoring the need for Indigenous self-determination in interpretation.

In Australia, there has been some progress in embedding Indigenous protocols within institutional policies, though Indigenous staff often bear the burden of ensuring compliance. Holmberg noted that while Sámi representation in mainstream education in Finland is increasing, tokenistic inclusions remain common.

Both speakers connected creative practice with land rights activism, sovereignty and community needs. Ultimately, both humour and joy play a huge part in their communities and can be found in cultural continuity, ceremony, festivals and the next generation who are learning and questioning.

Indigenous Science: Self-Determination and the Art–Science Intersection

In this second panel of the day, Dr Rauna Kuokkanen (Sámi) and Dr Robert Andrew (Yawuru) discussed the relationship between Indigenous science, sovereignty and creative practice.

Kuokkanen traced the sustained settler colonialism in Sápmi, characterised by elimination, the destruction of traditional practice and livelihoods, and the ultimate undermining of Sámi sovereignty. She discussed the introduction of English fly fishing to the Deatnu River in the nineteenth century as an example of how settler leisure practices displaced Sámi fishing rights and disrupted cultural continuity. Her research projects aim to centre Indigenous knowledge in governance and challenge state-imposed structures.

Andrew spoke about uncovering suppressed family histories through his kinetic installations that combine technology with ochres, salts, charcoal and rammed earth. His work draws from the red ochre roads of his country near Broome and reflects on the ‘long time’ of Indigenous worldviews versus the strict timeframes in Western institutions.

A discussion moderated by Katya García-Antón addressed questions of institutional frameworks, the divide between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’, and the limited authority of Sámi parliaments. Sámi artist Pauliina Feodoroff was also mentioned regarding her reflections on Sámi greetings and the multiplicity of words for snow, highlighting the nuance and depth of Indigenous lexicons.

The Agency of Land: Relational Practice and Shifting the Colonial Consciousness

The final panel explored how art can address ongoing settler colonial impacts and shift the colonial consciousness toward broader understandings of Indigenous sovereignty.

Speaking via audio link, Anders Sunna (Sámi) described his politically charged practice centred on his family’s 54-year struggle against Swedish state policies that destroyed their reindeer herds and imposed constant surveillance. His installation in the Sámi Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale incorporated tree trunks, archival documents and paintings from the 1970s onward to create a ‘courtroom’ of evidence. Sunna spoke of the logistical frustrations of transporting organic materials under Western regulatory regimes and the symbolic resonance of repurposing materials from other national pavilions on site.

Sunna emphasised that dreams, ancestral knowledge and multiple layers of reality continue to shape his work. Although there have been some apologies from Sweden, not a great deal of change has followed.

Artist Daniel Boyd (Kudjala, Ghungalu, Wangerriburra, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Kuku Yalanji, Bundjalung and Yuggera heritage with ni-Vanuatu ancestry) discussed the structural violence embedded in colonial histories. Born into the first generation outside an Anglican mission, he described the cultural genocide inflicted upon his people and the enduring effects of colonial economies; from Queensland’s sugar cane plantation slavery to the global circulation of breadfruit on Cook’s journey from Pacific islands to the Caribbean to feed enslaved people.

Boyd analysed Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai (Omai) c.1776 and its ‘orientalist’ and ‘exotic’ misrepresentations, as well as monuments such as a statue of Achilles in Hyde Park made from melted down weaponry from the Battle of Waterloo. His own practice uses oculi (convex transparent vinyl dots) as porous lenses through which histories shimmer, often using old family photographs as their base.

Erin Vink (Ngiyampaa) moderated the conversation and following Q&A, addressing how embodied knowledge is carried through family and community, the need to navigate institutional responsibility and curatorial self-determination, and cross-Indigenous solidarity.

The day succeeded in foregrounding the depth and vitality of Indigenous knowledge systems and their capacity to unsettle colonial frameworks. It also prompted reflection on the meaning of exhibiting Indigenous art in a British institution, and questioned how institutions can move beyond representation toward genuine structural change. Indigenous futures are already being made through community-led curatorial work, transnational exchange and the creative assertion of relational, land-based knowledge. ‘Indigenous Futures: Embodied Knowledges’ emphasised the importance of long-term relational work with Indigenous communities and the transformative power of Indigenous contemporary art.