Kanyini - The Award Winning Documentary Film from Australia

Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 09.09.08

'Kanyini is a story told by an Aboriginal man, Bob Randall, who lives beside the greatest monolith in the world, Uluru in Central Australia. Based on Bob's own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush, Bob tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for Indigenous people to move forward. A tale of Indigenous wisdom clashing against materialist notions of progress, this is not only a story of one man and his people but the story of the human race.' Kanyini Website

The Aboriginal Art Directory is proud to bring the following interview with the Director Melanie Hogan.

1. What was your aim when you set out to make this film?

Artist Portrait There are many reasons why I made Kanyini.

1. I realised there was so much about Australian history we weren't taught at school - i.e. our history from an Indigenous perspective! That meant most Australians were carrying around only half the story of this country in their head and I wanted to make sure they knew the whole story!

2. I wanted to inspire Australians to realise there was so much we could learn from our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Australia's Aboriginal culture is the oldest living culture in the world. Some values carried in traditional Indigenous culture are maybe tens of thousands of years old. That is very precious and to be honoured and revered and learnt from.

3. I wanted to inspire Australians to form friendships with their Indigenous brothers and sisters.

4. I wanted to help shift 'negative attitudes' some non-Indigenous people are carrying in their heads.

2. Do you think you have achieved this? What impact has this film had?

The film is certainly opening hearts. Many people tell Uncle Bob and I that they understand Aboriginal culture and people in a much deeper and profound way for the first time after they've seen Kanyini. The film has continued to grow in terms of popularity through word-of-mouth. Many people visit the website www.kanyini.com to buy Kanyini and help promote Kanyini's message of connectedness to their friends and family. We've also screened Kanyini on TV here and overseas, shown Kanyini in cinemas here and the UK and been invited to film festivals in France, Canada, Japan, the UK and now Noumea. We also now have developed an education program called Yarnup which takes Kanyini into Australian schools and helps students to form friendships with their local Aboriginal community.( www.yarnup.com.au.) The students are very excited by all this. I think these are all signs the film is having a huge impact.

3. In the film, Bob talks about the strong connection Aboriginal people have to their land, what role does Aboriginal art have in this cultural connection?

There is a great love towards the land, felt by Aboriginal people. Whitefellas aren't even close to having this kind of connection implicit within our western culture. Traditional Aboriginal people lived in the earth, with the earth, whereas us whitefellas live on the earth. Aboriginal art tells us directly about the very deep connection Aboriginal people have with the land and for the land. It is an Aboriginal responsibility to take care of the land. Painting the land is another way of honouring the land they love and care for.

What I also think is so beautiful about traditional Aboriginal culture is that knowledge of the land and life is passed down to each other through 'relationship'. It is not through impersonal books or lectures. It is about developing 'relationships' amongst the human tribe or family. Imagine if we had to develop relationships to learn more about life and our world. Very beautiful. It is not a surprise that caring and sharing was a natural way of life for traditional Aboriginal people.

4. Can non-indigenous people really appreciate this 'connectiveness'?

I think the beauty of Indigenous wisdom is that it is 'natural' wisdom. It comes from a strong relation with the natural world. We too have the awareness and ability to connect with the natural world because we are human too. We can therefore definitely feel the depth of Indigenous culture. Indigenous wisdom, in my opinion, speaks to the natural self inside of us all. It is a part of ourselves the western world has long forgotten. It is that part of ourselves that 'feels' and 'intuitively connects with all forms of life around us'. It is the beautiful part of being human.

5. What role does Aboriginal art play in bringing the cultural gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australia?

Aboriginal art is a beginning for many people into the depths of traditional Aboriginal culture. Once you form friendships with Aboriginal people and understand their love for life and the land, the artworks become more and more powerful. It is afterall not just what you see that's important in Aboriginal culture, but what you feel.

6. How did you become involved in Aboriginal art?

I have never been involved directly with Aboriginal art as Westerners know it. If you define the sharing of Aboriginal culture and wisdom as a creative act, then yes I have been deeply involved for a long time. I use film as a medium to help audiences to learn more from Indigenous people directly. I first got involved with Aboriginal people when I read Uncle Bob's book, "Songman." I was so inspired by his words that i wrote to him and visited him in Central Australia as fast as I could! Once we met and talked, we knew we could work together to inspire Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to learn from each other. There is so much to learn from Aboriginal people. We are very lucky that Aboriginal people are still so heartfelt and generous and wish to share their knowledge with us.

7. What impact has Aboriginal art had on your life?

Aboriginal culture and people have changed my life. The way I feel my way through this existence has deepened. My creativity has exploded. My resilience has intensified. My spirit has smiled more.

8. What are some of the issues Aboriginal communities currently face?

One of the most pressing problems for Aboriginal people, i feel, is to convince non-Aboriginal people of their brilliance and their intelligence and their amazing worth. I feel that many non-Aboriginal people still think of Aboriginal people as inferior. That's why policies like assimilation existed and still exist to some extent. Once westerners start reflecting upon life and existence they might finally see that the oldest living culture in the world has so much depth, so much to offer us. We might then work together in solving some of the problems Aboriginal people experience because they were dispossessed by the whitefellas.

9. Are they any organisations that people can support that are addressing these problems?

Uncle Bob will always say just become friends with Aboriginal people. Become close. Learn from each other and walk together. If you can do this in a heartfelt way things are going to get better for all of us. Whitefellas need a lot of healing too. Our sick Indigenous people, our sick rivers and planet, in my opinion, are reflections of the attitudes we carry around in our heads and our hearts.

10. As Aboriginal art buyers, what can we do to ensure we are helping these communities?

It is great that Aboriginal people can earn an income from their art. However I think it is important that resources (Government or private) are channelled into 'valuing and strengthening' traditional Aboriginal culture. The more westerners value traditional Aboriginal culture the more we will fight to preserve it. There are very few people or organisations out there fighting to preserve traditional Aboriginal culture for all of our benefit. That doesn't mean we all go back to the cave. It means we learn about the value systems of traditional Aboriginal people and develop our material world to some extent in accordance with those value systems. This has never happened to date. The colonial mindset has never seen value in traditional Aboriginal culture. We all need to work together to change that.

( *All of the content in this interview is directly quoted from the interviewee - Aboriginal Art Directory)

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