Design & Building on Country
by Alison Page and Paul Memmott, illustrated by Blak Douglas
Published by Thames & Hudson Australia - September 2024 - Softback - 152pp - 21.5cm x 16cm
From boomerangs to buildings, fire carriers to fashion, learn about Indigenous building and design on Country and how it continues today.
What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years or more?
Join designer and artist Alison Page alongside anthropologist and architect Paul Memmott as they share some of the incredible inventions created by the oldest continuing culture in the world.
With striking colour illustrations from Archibald Prize winning artist Blak Douglas.
The First Knowledges series for Younger Readers celebrates the wisdom and ingenuity of the First Peoples of this land. From baking the world’s first bread to expertly managing Country so that everything had a chance to flourish, these books provide children with the building blocks to better understand our history and look to the future with fresh eyes.
Alison Page is a Walbanga and Wadi Wadi woman. She is an award-winning designer and film producer whose career links Indigenous stories and traditional knowledge with contemporary design. She appeared for eight years as a regular panellist on the ABC television show The New Inventors, and in 2015 was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia's Hall of Fame. She is an adjunct associate professor at the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney, and the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency.
Paul Memmott is a descendant of Scottish potters and painters. He has had a 50-year life experience and career working as an architect, anthropologist and agent for change with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. He is a transdisciplinary researcher based at University of Queensland, recognising the need to join with Indigenous communities and organisations to bring transformative approaches to improving quality of lifestyle and wellbeing in the face of longitudinal disadvantage and the endeavour for self-determination. One of his books, Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: The Aboriginal Architecture of Australia, won three national book awards.
Blak Douglas is a modern artist with proud Dhungutti Aboriginal origins. His works are culturally and politically charged with a sense of irony, parody and truth. Blak is a trained illustrator, designer and a self-taught painter. He won the 2018 Kilgour Prize, the 2020 STILL award and the 2022 Archibald Prize. His works are collected by the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of NSW, QAGOMA, the Australian National Maritime Museum, the National Museum of Australia, AIATSIS and other galleries in Australia and abroad.
About the series: This is the second title in the First Knowledges for Younger Readers series, based on the award-winning adult books.
Titles in the series include:
Songlines by Margo Neale & Lynne Kelly, illustrated by Blak Douglas (2023)
Design and building on Country by Alison Page & Paul Memmott, illustrated by Blak Douglas (2024)
