Remembering the Future: Warlpiri Life Through the Prism of Drawing

(Paperback)

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What can a collection of drawings reveal about their makers Crayon drawings collected by anthropologists provide an illuminating prism through which to explore how the Warlpiri people of Central Australia have seen their place in the world and have been seen by others. In a lucid style Remembering the future tracks the return to communities of an important collection, six decades after they were made. Discussions with many people, journeys to places and archival research build a compelling account of the colonial and contemporary circumstances of Warlpiri lives. As well as the truths the drawings might speak, The book concerns itself with the beguiling questions that remain unanswered and the limits of scholarship. Substantial and fresh insights are generated into the crucial place of images in relationships between Warlpiri people and the dominant society. Remembering the future makes a significant contribution to the anthropology and history of Central Australia, as well as the wider emergent field of visual studies.

Reviews

This will be a very important book that breaks new ground in Aboriginal visual culture Professor Jane Lydon More than an art book, the text constitutes a major insight into the history and current circumstance of the Warlpiri themselvesa fresh reflexive and multiperspectival approach to the analysis of visual representation not found in many art booksit marks a generational change and a new approach to scholarship. Dr Luke Taylor

Author Bio

Melinda Hinkson is a social anthropologist with wide-ranging interests in anthropology and visual culture. Since the mid-1990s she has worked with Warlpiri people in central Australia on various forms of visual production and mediation. She has published widely on the mediated relationships between Warlpiri and wider Australia, the history of Australian anthropology and the politics of knowledge production. Currently a senior lecturer in anthropology and Visual Culture Research at the Australian national university, from mid-2014 Melinda embarks on a four-year Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. She has previously written/published Aboriginal Sydney; Coercive reconciliation, An appreciation of differenceand Culture crisis.