Contemporary Indigenous Art: Connecting the Past to the Future

Task Summary

Students will engage with a range of Artful Thinking routines whilst viewing a variety of contemporary Indigenous Art Works using Augmented Reality (AR) and Handheld Virtual Reality (HHVR) devices.

Learn More

Preparation

Students are expected to:

  • Have some background knowledge on Indigenous Australian Art
  • Have some background in using Augmented Reality (AR) and Hand Held Virtual reality headsets (HHVR).

Teachers should make sure that:

  • Devices are charged
  • Students are able to access YouTube videos.
  • Slide deck has been checked and the teacher has enabled the deck’s accessibility so students can access them.
  • A copy of the Student Digital Notebook has been distributed to students and they have downloaded/ made a copy for themselves.
  • Students are divided into pairs or groups depending on how many devices are available. A suggested rotation schedule might be:
    Group Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
    Group 1 Nongirrna Marawili Marking Time Songlines
    Group 2 Songlines Nongirrna Marawili Marking Time
    Group 3 Marking Time Songlines Nongirrna Marawili

    This may differ based on student numbers and number of HHVR headsets/ devices.

Lesson Sequence

  • Direct students to navigate through the Atnwengerrp Exhibition and to choose an art piece.
  • Students complete a See-Think-Wonder in their Student Digital Notebook in pairs on their chosen art piece.
  • Add a connect to the students’ See-Think-Wonder. Consider; 
    • “how does this artwork connect to what you know about Indigenous Australian Art? 
    • How is it different?”. 
  • Introduce students to the stations they will engage in:

Station Based Rotations
Each rotation is around 10-13 mins

Station 1 – Songlines (HHVR)

Direct students to scan the QR code using the devices to access the YouTube video Songlines explained: A 360 experience with Rhoda Roberts. Ask students to view the video in the HHVR headsets. 

Students complete a Creative Comparisons thinking routine. Ask them answer the following in their Student Digital Notebook:

In what ways were the artworks displayed in the experience similar to traditional Indigenous Artworks?

In what ways were the artworks displayed in the experience different to traditional Indigenous Artworks?

How does this experience bring Indigienous Australian artworks and culture to the forefront?

Station 2 – Noŋgirrŋa Marawili — Google Arts & Culture
Students are to either scan the QR code using their devices or type in the bit.ly URL (https://bit.ly/3z5aapF) link on their laptops to access this experience. Direct students to navigate through the experience, paying particular attention to the explanations and captions surrounding the artwork.
Once the students reach the interactive art gallery space, they need to choose one of Nongirrna’s artworks to complete an Artful Thinking Connect-Extend-Challenge:

      • How is the artwork or object connected to something you know about?
      • What new ideas or impressions do you have that extended your thinking in new directions?
      • What is challenging or confusing? What do you wonder about?

Station 3 –Marking Time: Indigenous Art from the NGV
Students are to navigate through the exhibition Marking Time. They are to view the different artworks in the gallery tour and then choose one they are particularly drawn to.

Student complete an Artful Thinking Circle of Viewpoints Routine with the following viewpoints and questions:

From the viewpoint of an artist, a young Indigenous Australian person, and yourself, explore each perspective using these sentence starters:

    • I am thinking of…the topic … from the viewpoint of…the viewpoint you’ve chosen
    • I think…describe the topic from your viewpoint. Be an actor–take on the character of your viewpoint
    • A question I have from this viewpoint is…ask a question from this viewpoint
  • Ask students to complete the following in their Student Digital Notebook:
    • I used to think ___________ about Indigenous Australian Art, and now I think ____________ because _____________

Download the PDF for more information

Back to Resources Next Resource