UA31316 Lumen Spring 2024 Final Digital - Flipbook - Page 16
Your stories
Aboriginal people,” Temaana says. “We also donate part
of our profits to wildlife and environmental charities every
three months.”
In 2022, Temaana won the Don Dunstan Foundation OUR
MOB Emerging Artist Prize, the youngest person to win the award,
for a collection of works including hand-painted ceramics, acrylic
on wood sculptures and giclée print on archival cotton rag paper.
The diverse landscapes and colours of Country were
depicted as well as Creation stories such as the Yurlu (kingfisher
man) story about how the landscape of Wilpena Pound and the
Flinders Ranges were created.
Temaana’s studies are similarly fuelled by his passion for
Country. “Ngarrindjeri have a word, ngartjis, which means your
best friend. We have all these best friends (animals) out in our
Country, all of our ngartjis, and we really have to care for them
and then they’ll care for us,” he says.
“To see certain animals endangered is really, really sad,
especially since they have such a strong cultural bond and
personal connections to us. My family’s totem is the yellowfooted rock wallaby, andu in Adnyamathanha.”
Temaana says he has always had this passion for nature but
didn’t consider making it a career until the
later years of his schooling.
A culture
of creation
By Lilli Mae Mavrogiannis
“In the general Aboriginal community,
I don’t know many people who have done a
conservation degree,” he says. “It has always
been something on my mind, but it wasn’t
really until year 12 I thought I could go into
it as a career.
“Keeping up with how extreme Uni can
be at times as well as having to keep up with
content creation, orders, marketing – it can
be quite overwhelming. But I think one thing
that’s been very helpful has been remembering
why I’m here, why I’m doing this.”
Temaana’s interactions with the University began in year 10
through the Karnkanthi Program which works with Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander high school students to develop the
participants’ aspirations for careers and life while also starting to
build on their academic confidence for university education.
For an artist, creative inspiration often comes from the experiences
and environments which have helped to shape them.
Temaana Sanderson-Bromley, an award-winning artist and
second-year Bachelor of Marine and Wildlife Conservation student,
knows this well.
He is now part of the University’s Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal
Education community which supports Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students. His academic success last year resulted
in him being awarded the Peter Høj and Mandy Thomas Yaitya
Tipanthi Scholarship.
The young Adnyamathanha, Narungga and Wangkangurru
Yarluyandi man spent his youth experiencing the varied beauties
of the Flinders Ranges, Yorke Peninsula and the Simpson Desert.
“Growing up on Country, I was always around nature and
around animals,” he says.
“The impact of this scholarship has been immense,” Temaana
says. “It has relieved some financial stress while also allowing me
to travel back to my Country to be around nature and wildlife
which complements my degree and studies.”
“My ideas come from my cultures, my Country, and my family,
as well as day-to-day life on Kaurna Country.”
Temaana says his hope is to be a force for good in his
community. “Considering how important wildlife conservation is
for Aboriginal culture, I want to use my degree and possibly my
future job as a platform to advocate for it.
Part of an artistic family, Temaana shares the wonders of his
Country through his family’s Malka WiriWiri Art Collective
project and his online clothing design business Mardlaapa Designs.
Mardlaapa means ‘little’ in Adnyamathanha and mardlaapa
yura (little man) was Temaana’s childhood nickname. His business
creates surf-inspired fashion which blends Aboriginal artwork with
modern designs and embodies the spirit of adventure, creativity,
and sustainability as well as respect for the land, sea and the people
who call it home.
“I’m sure with the right exposure and information, there’s plenty
of young Aboriginal people who would love to step foot into this
sort of degree. I hope I can be a bit of an example for them.”
Lilli Mae Mavrogiannis is in her final year of a Bachelor of Media
majoring in journalism at the University.
“Our designs are inspired by and reflect the natural beauty of the
yarta (land) from the sea to the desert, and the rich culture of the
Main photo by Isaac Freeman. Artwork by Temaana
Sanderson-Bromley.
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