Communicating knowledge about the world: Reflective, collaborating artists

Art and filmmaking practices are shared across linguistic and diverse social contexts, reflecting a variety of epistemological views, of diverse ways of knowing about the world. There are points of connection and dissonance when one works with a cultural group that shares little of the language and cultural practice that an individual identifies as their own. This paper explores the experiences of four artists working in the Northern Territory of Australia. It highlights individual responses to adjust and adapt to artistic contexts outside their established perceptual norms as they work with Indigenous people. From these reflections come strategies to build effective collaborative art projects that develop a deeper, sustainable form of trans-cultural communication, where one way of doing and being does not seek to overwhelm or dominate the other. Visual expressions are shown as one way to break through difficult histories and current problems, extending empathetic discussion about what it means to know about art and the places it is created in. This notion will be illustrated by art-works created in this context. The underpinning idea is that a shift in epistemology works two ways when art practice is open to respect and change. The voices here are from people who have learned from interactions with Australian Indigenous people.