Bajirru! there you all are, hello! From the Yanyuwa language of Balarinji’s origin community Borroloola NT
Jinangu awara wabarrangu barra kalu-wingka marnijinju wabudala kari-nguthundawabarrangu jinangu Australia li-wulu marnaji barra liyi-Yanyuwawu awara li-Marranbala li-Arrwangala li-Gudanji jinangu awara Burrulula marnaji yamulhu
Our Country we belong to is Borroloola. Yanyuwa, Marra, Gudanji and Garrawa people.We welcome everyone to this land Australia.
Yanyuwa elder Samuel Evans Jamika
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. are respectfully advised this website contains references, artworks and images of people who have passed
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Canva x Balarinji

Indigenous design collection

#Graphic design
Year
2023
Artists
Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa, Gordon Lansden Milyindirri, Isaiah Nagurrgurrba

Balarinji and global design platform Canva partnered to release an Indigenous design collection for 2023 NAIDOC Week.

The Canva x Balarinji Indigenous design collection draws from artworks of three renowned Aboriginal artists and elders – Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa, Gordon Lansden Milyindirri and Isaiah Nagurrgurrba – and added more than 100 new Indigenous design elements to the permanent Canva Pro content library, with royalties going directly back to the artists when the elements are used.

Canva also created 40 new templates featuring these Balarinji design elements designed for use in posters, social media posts, presentations, videos and beyond, to empower Canva users with meaningful Indigenous content when designing NAIDOC Week materials, and for use year-round.

Through this branding and design collection, Balarinji aims to increase recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, design and art. Not only does this Canva collection bring Australia’s foundational narrative into the community and mainstream, but it also grows artist recognition and helps close the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous creators.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were the world’s first storytellers, artists, scientists and designers. This Canva x Balarinji Indigenous design collection allows us all to share the beauty and rich cultural narrative of three incredible Aboriginal artists.

Celebrating the oldest continuous culture

The collection was created with careful consideration to ensure the cultural integrity of the artists’ work while also providing a rich, versatile and beautiful collection of design elements that celebrate the continuing stories of the world’s longest-surviving culture.

Canva is continuously on a learning journey of how we can drive positive change, grow cultural appreciation, and be a force for good as we help build a more inclusive world. We’re proud to have partnered with Balarinji, an organisation that has spent 40 years on a mission to contribute to an authentic national identity by deepening the understanding of Aboriginal Australia. Our partnership with Balarinji provides us with an opportunity to champion diversity while connecting artists using traditional media to our digital, global community – in completely new ways.

Silvia Oviedo – Head of Content and Discovery at Canva

About the artists

Gordon Lansden Milyindirri

Milyindirri’s family has given permission for his name and art to be shared. 

Love of Country runs deep in artist Gordon Landsen Milyindirri’s work, with the Gudanji man taking inspiration from his billabong story, the rough hills at the lost city (Nayawooda), the bush Country (Mulloogera), and the desert Country around the Borroloola region in the Gulf of Carpentaria. These are the stories he heard from his great grandfather, and they’re stories, ceremony songs, and dances that Gordon taught to the children at Yungurie outstation. These stories have now been reflected through his elements in the Canva library.

Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa

Growing up in Yuelamu (Mt Allan), 290 km northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, meant life began the traditional way, in the bush, for Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa. Her lived experiences of hunting for bush tukka and traditional ceremony, as well as hearing her parents’ sacred stories, became inspiration for her canvas artworks, which she’s been painting since the 1980s. A renowned Walpiri artist, Maureen depicts her father’s stories of Fire Dreaming, Napa (Water Dreaming), and Lightning Dreaming, along with her mother’s Dreaming stories and women’s ceremonies for storytelling to her children and grandchildren. These themes are reflected in her elements developed for Canva that deeply celebrate Walpiri Country, ceremony and Dreaming.

Isaiah Nagurrgurrba

Isaiah’s family has given permission for his name and art to be shared.

A Marlkawo artist and screen printer who was a founding member of Injalak Arts and Crafts in Oenpelli, a remote community in western Arnhem Land, Isaiah sought inspiration for his paintings from djang, meaning stories, events, and places of deep importance. For Isaiah, painting the world around him was of utmost importance – because to him, to paint your Country is to highlight where you come from. This, along with stories he heard from Elders in his camp, are what shone through in his works and in the elements of his art we have added to Canva’s content library.