Lorna and Tatiana propose a yarning session of 60 minutes with a minimum of 10 people and maximum of 50 people to exchange ideas and promote collaboration between Elders, Indigenous Leaders, researchers and professionals. This session aims to present and discuss some of Lorna’s paintings and stories about bush foods, traditional practices and Country to understand how Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) can be recognised and used as an educational tool to promote health and wellbeing.
Lorna is a proud Pintupi woman from the remote community of Kintore (Walungurru) in the Northern Territory. She was born on the sand-hills west of Papunya community in 1971. Lorna is a teacher at her local school, a strong community leader and talented artist. Lorna teaches Pintupi/Luritja language in her local school and is a teacher assistant for maths and English. Lorna's paintings tell stories about her Country, culture and ancestors. Her paintings display her deep knowledge of Country, bush foods and local traditions. Since starting dialysis in 2021 due to stage 5 kidney disease, Lorna is eager to find new ways to protect this Knowledge and use it to improve the health of her community. Lorna is one of the Pintupi Elders who is working closely with Tatiana in a PhD project that aims to elevate Indigenous Knowledge and improve wellbeing through food and nutrition.
For many years health promotion programs have attempted to address health and social disparities among Indigenous Peoples through behavioural changes, but these programs have been shown to be largely ineffective. IKS and methods such as art and Storytelling have an undeniable educational aspect to them and can be used to guide better public health efforts. The recognition of IKS allows for a systems approach, respecting Indigenous holistic methodologies and addressing health through social determinants, community empowerment and self-determination.