maya finoh: It is a pleasure to be in conversation with you! How would you describe yourself, the work you do, your lineage/ community, and some of your main values/principles?

OUMOULA MCKENZIE: My name is Oumoula Nanaiyu Mckenzie and I’m a Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara (Anangu), Warumungu, and Warlmanpa artist from central Australia. I grew up in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and I use my art to try to empower my community and speak on the challenges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face.

maya: How did you get into graphic design as a medium? What about it is appealing and/or useful to you? Why have you chosen it as a vehicle for your inherently political artwork?

OUMOULA: I was working for an organisation that was providing services to my communities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands during the build-up to the 2023 Indigenous Voice referendum, a poll that would make an Indigenous voice in Parliament enshrined in the constitution. A lot of the information that was coming from the Voice campaign was designed by academics for academics, which was very difficult to translate because, for a lot of my people, English is a second or third language. A friend of mine was working for the same organization at the time and she showed me Procreate on her iPad which I instantly loved!

I then used my art to help translate the information from the campaign to help members within the programs we were delivering to have a better understanding of the campaign and local governance. I realised there was some success with this method so I started posting my art on social media to hopefully have the same positive effect on the broader Black community.

maya: You’ve described your art as a tool to “share commentary on issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.” Can you tell me a bit more about what these particular issues are? And what Black resistance to these issues exists today?

OUMOULA: The issues that Indigenous Australians face are very complex with multiple layers that affect our quality of life. Not only is there a constant struggle in trying to establish political, economic, and social equality for ourselves and communities within white Australia but we’re also trying to solve the issues within our communities that are brought upon by substance abuse, mental and physical health issues, and all forms of violence perpetrated by other members of our communities.

The resistance is alive and well, as Indigenous people across the country have started organizations and businesses to help people with the issues that we face and to try to accomplish equality.

maya: What connections do you see, if any, between the Indigenous struggle against ongoing settler occupation in so- called Australia and the freedom struggles of Black folks in Congo, Sudan, Haiti, the so-called United States, etc.?

OUMOULA: We have been exploited and oppressed by the same people so unfortunately our connections are the scars and the traumas that we have developed during the harsh conditions that we have been forced to live in. So theoretically if one of the groups you have mentioned finds a blueprint or method to solve the issues that they are facing, we could all use the same strategies to accomplish the same goal.

maya: Do you have any ideas or strategies on how we can make solidarity between Black folks of the Atlantic World and Black Aboriginal/Melanesian folks of the Pacific World more meaningful, visible, and prominent?

OUMOULA: I think about the strategies that have already been developed. Looking at the influence that Black people throughout the Caribbean and the U.S. have had on culture around the world proves that we as a Black collective have the power of influence and maybe there we can find our key to liberation.

maya: Yes, and we can even look to recent history to see examples of unity and camaraderie built between communities throughout the Black diaspora—you reminding me that First Nations peoples drew direct inspiration from the Black Panthers and created an Australian Black Panther Party with community survival programs rooted in Black power and Indigenous sovereignty. What does a liberated Black Indigenous future look, feel, and sound like to you?

OUMOULA: Independence, to be completely free from European or other groups’ hegemony.