by Cherie Minniecon
This paper is in dedication and acknowledgement to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the Original Futurists of this land whose foresight, creativity, innovation and adaptability are evidenced by being the oldest living culture in the world today.
In 2016, Albuquerque hosted the very first Indigenous Comic-Con. An idea born by Pueblo of Laguna man. Dr Lee Francis, who imagined and questioned what a Comic convention would look like if all panel members and the convention itself were Indigenous.
He imagined Indigenous movies and TV stars, authors and cosplayers from all around the world that could showcase their talent and reclaim stories that had been misused and appropriated through mainstream pop culture and breakthrough the stereotypical characters put on Aboriginal people. He wondered if he was the only Indigenous person passionate about comics, science fiction, speculative fiction and gaming? He was not alone. Over in Australia, Cienan Muir a Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri man had developed a love for comics whilst spending time in hospital as a child whilst battling illness. He was now busy dedicating his time to coordinating many panel discussions around Indigenous representation at other comic conventions in Australia. Including hosting a panel with creators of Indigenous sci-fi show, Cleverman. It was through a Facebook message that ultimately linked Dr Lee and Cienan who became a special guest to the Indigenous Comic-Con in Alberta as an International Cosplayer, (i.e. someone who engages in the practice of dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game etc.).
Image 2: artwork by attendee Wadi Corstorpahn
Fast forward to November 2019 Cienan through his business Indigi-nerd, would go on to deliver the first-ever Indigenous Comic-Con in Melbourne Australia with support from Dr Lee and his team. The Indigenous Comic Con was open to everyone to attend showcasing the continuing Indigenous narratives in this country, for what they are and what they can be.
Image 3: Cienan Muir as an international guest in Albuquerque. Photographer Nancy Smith.
When I first heard about the vision for Indigenous Comic-Con, I heard it to be a creative play space where Indigenous artists had a platform to be heard and seen. Attendees could express themselves in a variety of ways through writing, gaming, comics, music and cosplay. Attendees could be inspired through interesting panel sessions with Indigenous writers and actors, comic talks with comic books illustrators and Beta testing of the newest video game developed with an Indigenous gaze. It was a pop culture event grounded in cultural protocols and ceremony. A culturally safe space to play and express ourselves without judgement. It didn’t disappoint.
As a Yorta Yorta woman who has never attended a Comic-Con Convention in my life, I imagined futures focused space glittered with Indigenous Futurisms. Indigenous Futurisms is a term coined by Anishinaabe professor Dr Grace Dillion located in paying homage to the term Afrofuturism. It is a movement consisting of art, literature, comics, games, and other forms of media which express Indigenous perspectives of the future, past, and present in the context of science fiction and related sub-genres (Muzyka, 2020). Such perspectives may reflect Indigenous ways of knowing, traditional stories, historical or contemporary politics or other cultural realities. Indigi-Con provided an opportunity to explore how genres such as Speculative fiction are not spaces to simply escape from reality but a way to question and unpack the past, present and future of our realities. It can be a way to challenge colonialism and to bring our metaphors and stories to life when the challenges of doing so in the thickness of the muddy present feel impossible for many of us to be heard (Kwayamullina 2017). A space that acts as a reminder that what we see and who we are not only matters but is vitally needed. A space for ancestral imagination to be explored, reminding us that the future is not colonised; it is an open and contested place that we have every right to create and lead into.
I wondered what would be a fun futures focused imagination process that could take place at the Indigenous Comic-Con? Something that could provoke the imagination of attendees and create a dialogue about the future and futures thinking. Improvising on the day of Indigi-Con I grabbed a set of cards designed to be used as an imagination game called a “Thing From the Future” by Stuart Candy and Jeff Watson. I also had a set of Aboriginal designed oracle cards focused on Aboriginal and universal spirituality designed and created by Melinda Brown a Ngunnaawal woman from Australia. We set up a futures legends table. The purpose of the table was to allow attendees to express their talent and explore ideas about the future and its legends.
The Process
The invitation
On approaching the table attendees were invited to play with the future by being asked if they would like to be “dealt” a future”. They then selected at random four cards that would represent the following;
A mood card that would describe the emotions that the legend of that future might evoke or a general mood of a future that they were designing.
An object card to describe the basic form of something in the future. The object could be something meaningful to the legend or just an object that has meaning in the future they would imagine.
A terrain card to describe contexts, places, and topic areas. The terrain card explained where – physically or conceptually –where their legend may exist.
Image 4: Aboriginal Goddess Chakra Cards
Aboriginal Goddess Chakra Card: This card was dealt as a signifier of what the legends superpower may be in that future or something of spiritual value in the future as interpreted by the artist.
The intention of combing the Thing from the Future cards with the Aboriginal goddess Chakra cards was to
- Add an Indigenous designed visual element to the imagination provoking.
- To add a spiritual dimension or layer for consideration and interpretation in the design of the future.
- To sit outside aspects of homogeneity of the “Thing from the future” cards.
The following are some examples of images that were created and their associated comments or stories shared them with permission.
Image 5: The Futures Legends Table. Photo by Cherie Minniecon.
EXAMPLE 1:
Cards
-
- Mood: Sadness
- Object: Machine
- Terrain: Music
- Aboriginal card deck: Wholeness of Self
Image 6 by Rarriwuy Hick photographed by Cherie Minniecon
This image was created by Yonglu woman and actress Rarriway Hick. The terrain of music was expressed through nature. The grief and sadness were a result of what the machines had done to the land. This grief and sadness would also be the very thing that would heal the land and bring us back to wholeness.
Cards
Mood: Respect
Object: The Pill
Terrain: The brain
Aboriginal deck card: Ancestral healing
Image 7. The creator of this image chose to be anonymous. The cards surrounding the image were the cards that had been selected for the picture—photo by Cherie Minniecon.
This attendee was a cosplayer currently completing her PhD relating to stem cell research and could see how the cards associated with the type of future she preferred. More women respected and participating in stem cell.
She shared that the ancestral healing card that had been dealt had stumped her; however, the discussion turned to identity. She was of Malaysian, Singaporean and European heritage and did not keenly feel a strong sense of belonging to any of her ethnic identities. She decided on drawing the Avatar character from the tv series The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra where in times of self-doubt, looks to past lives for strength. This equated for her, tapping into the multi makeup of her cultural identities. A character that represented the healing and the liminality of this identity and that knowledge of who we truly are is accessible within, from our past and beyond.
Cards
Mood: Amusement
Object: flag
Terrain: Water
Aboriginal Deck: Magickal Dreaming
The following two images and stories were created by talented twelve-year-old, Daisy Faale. 
Image 8 by Daisy Faale 12 years old
Story: The woman was born with one arm and belonged to the water world. In this future, all women are born with only one arm, it has been like this for generations. The flag represented the loss of her daughter, who had been taken from her and cared for in an unknown place. She always dreamed about her. The flag represented her relationship with her daughter, and she held onto it until she died. The woman had been murdered by a person who was creating robots in this unknown place.
At the end of the story, Daisy asked to be dealt more cards.
The next lot of cards were;
Mood: Wonder
Object: Bottle
Terrain: Robots
Aboriginal deck: Inner truth
Image 9 by Daisy Faale 12 years old
Story: The bottle of water held by the alien was truth water. The robot went against the other robots and helped the ladies daughter as she had been harmed. There were people that had loved the mother so much that they were going to make sure that they kept her spirit alive and maybe even bring her back to life. The little girl was going to live on and managed to get the robots to understand what needed to change and she even grew another arm, the first for generations. The robots helped her get the person who murdered her mother to justice.
Example 4
Mood: Excitement
Object: Snack
Terrain: Water
Aboriginal deck: Spiritual awakening
Image 10 by Tessa 13 years old.
In this future, Coles owned all the food and water. Coles is the name of an Australian supermarket chain. The image is of cracks in the ground due to a lack of water. The people are excited because Coles was coming to provide food and water. Coles was the legend.
Reflection
The designing of future worlds and their legends created powerful questions, narratives and metaphors and a strong foundation for narrative foresight that may assist with social change and actions in our present-day realities. Narrative foresight is a focus on the stories that we tell ourselves about the future, exploring our worldviews and metaphors of what we think the possible, probable or preferred future may be (Milojevic & Inayatullah, 2015). Narrative foresight is a way to transform our stories into a preferred or desired future evoking a stronger sense of agency and hope. A workshop based on this could’ve taken place alongside the table to unpack and create alternative futures. The basis being that we don’t want to limit our visions to Dystopian or Utopian images of a future but create many alternatives and diverse images that help us all cultivate our sense of hope and agency in the world around us.
The created images were put up on a pinboard for display, or they could be kept by the artist. The display created a space for us to question our own assumptions and opportunities to search for new meaning and stories through the images. In this sense, the images were not just static drawings on a piece of paper but living creations for sense-making by other attendees who looked and asked about the images.
The below paragraphs is how I made meaning from the images along with some questions that were raised by attendees.
In example one the image provoked in me, feelings of the power of connection to country and songlines. When connected deeply to the country, we are deeply connected to ourselves and everything around us. If you are reading this and are unfamiliar with songlines I encourage you to start to learn more through the generous sharing by the GAY’WU Group of women in their book Song Spirals. Even in the sadness of this future, I see deep trust in the image of the face, knowing how to heal and transform. It also raised the question of in what ways do we listen and be in respectful relationship to the land and water and everything in between in the current day world?
A few days post-Indigi-Con a friend of mine was in America listening to a TED X talk by a young Indigenous woman named Kelsey Leonard of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. Kelsey is fighting for rivers and lakes to have personhood and the same recognised rights as humans. Kelsey Leonard asks us all to shift the question of “what is water to us? To “who is water to us”? The shifting of such questions is insights into how we can all enter these relationships.
At the same conference, Plant Wave, an organisation which translates plant biorhythms into music had created a chill-out space where people could wear headphones and have this meditative experience with the plants. This raised the question, is this a respectful way of listening to plants? or does this feel like eavesdropping? Is this an experience of being in relationships with nature or another way of using nature for our consumption? A one-way relationship. What do cultural values of reciprocity and responsibility look like in our world today and in the future of post-normal times?
In example 2 I saw the struggles of carrying multi-ethnic identities and how understanding our past can orientate us in a world that can be full of binary views of who we are expected to be or how we are expected to identify. I also saw the strategies of how we maintain a sense of wholeness through our connection to the past and culture.
The questions that arose from this image were What is the future of liminal and multi-ethnic identities? How do we each return to feeling whole in a world that wants to break our identities into parts? How to heal and anchor our sense of self from feelings of disconnection? What offerings do our multiethnic identities carry in relation to cultural and social change? How do those with liminal or multi-ethnic identities find a sense of place, connection and belonging?
In example 3 Daisy’s image and stories showed me that breaking intergenerational cycles requires collective efforts, support, relationships and collaboration. I saw three legends in her story. The memory of the mother, the daughter and the robot. That even with violence and injustice around us, we can still create agency in the face of great loss and break cycles.
Her image raised questions by other attendees such as what would an Indigenous designed robot be like? Are robots potential allies in the future? Will we need allies in the future? Can a robot be a legend? How do we go about creating them? How many people does it take to create big changes? Why would robots want to harm us? How may robots cause harm in the future? What do flags mean and represent to us now and in the future? Do we need to free the Aboriginal flag or be free from the Aboriginal flag altogether ( this question came about due to the free the flag campaign that came about due to a non- Aboriginal company having copyright on the Aboriginal flag)?
In example 4 Tessa told me that she didn’t like this future but this is what she saw happening. We didn’t have a chance to discuss the image in depth or explore alternative future scenarios as she went to explore the rest of the Indigi Con program with her family. This raised the questions as to what do we do if we for-see images of the future we do not like? What can we do? How do our visions or lack of alternative visions help or hinder us to make meaning of the present? What role does intuitional insight and vision play in influencing the future and our actions in the present? How do we not let it overwhelm us? This image raised questions of whether legends or superheroes had to be people. Could a company be a legend of the future? What is the relationship between people and companies? Why was there no water? How did Coles get all the food and water?
Three months post-Indigi-Con COVID 19 arrived. I think Tessa was spot on. Coles providing essential services. Coles became a legend of a future many of us didn’t know was around the corner.
Next steps
Consolidating the learning from the Indigenous Comic Con held in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia Cienan has developed the Indiginerd website, which will virtually create a wider range of platforms catering too much more Indigenous pop culture goodness. In addition, he is creating a cosplay centric event, open to all cosplayers. He is also undertaking planning for the next Indigi Con with a date that is yet to be determined.
In collaboration with Cienan we are exploring the idea to bring a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and designers to go through a futures methodology to design four future speculative designs linked to a specific theme grounded in Indigenous design principles. Speculative design is about giving attendees visceral experiences of imagined futures. Attendees could then question and share their own reactions and insights through a live graphic mural to be used as a tool for live participatory sense-making. The intention would be to bring awareness to how we all see and engage with a different type of Indigenous futures imagery and how it can empower us, overwhelm us or provide us with endless options to create change.
I feel privileged that my first experience of a Comic-Con Convention was Indigi-Con. It opened me up to a whole new world of fun, play, imagination and community, with endless possibilities. I am also working on the development of a podcast, a creative project exploring the future and how we navigate the unknown and uncertainty from often unheard perspectives.
Cienan Muir: Cienan is one of a few Indigenous Australian Cosplayers in Australia and the business owner of Indiginerd, a business that aims to create pop culture centred platforms with a focus on the Indigenous culture, representation and narratives. He is also the Director of Indigenous Comic Con Australia www.indiginerd.com.au cienan@indiginerd.com.au
Cherie Minniecon: is a Yorta Yorta woman from Victoria, Australia and is passionate about cultivating hope and action. She is a Social Worker and lecturer in Social Policy and Diversity studies and a futures practitioner curious about how we navigate and respond to the unknowns of tomorrow through critical engagement and empowerment. She is also the host of the Original Futurist Podcast currently under development. futures@cherieminniecon.com . Podcast originafuturistpodcast@gmail.com
Dr Lee Francis: completed his studies through Texas State University in school improvement and educational leadership. He is the CEO and founder of Native Realities a company dedicated to changing the perceptions and representations of Indigenous people in and through pop culture. Indigenous Comic Con USA- https://www.indigipopx.com/home. Native Realities: https://www.nativerealities.com/
References
Afrofuturism: Journal of Future Studies: https://jfsdigital.org/tag/afrofuturism/
Brown, M. Aboriginal Goddess Chakra Cards. https://www.rockpoolpublishing.com.au/mel-brown
Grace Dillon (ed), Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (University of Arizona Press 2012) 10–12.
Kwaymullina, A (2017). Reflecting on Indigenous Worlds, Indigenous Futurisms and Artificial Intelligence. http://motherofinvention.twelfthplanetpress.com/2017/09/16/reflecting-on-indigenous-worlds-indigenous-futurisms-and-artificial-intelligence/
Leonard, K (2019) Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans. https://www.ted.com/talks/kelsey_leonard_why_lakes_and_rivers_should_have_the_same_rights_as_humans
Milojevic, I, Inayatullah, S (2015) Narrative Foresight Volume 73, October 2015, Pages 151-162 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2015.08.007
Muzyka, K. (2020, June) From growing medicine to space rockets what is Indigenous Futurism. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/looking-towards-the-future-indigenous-futurism-in-literature-music-film-and-fashion-1.5036479/from-growing-medicine-to-space-rockets-what-is-indigenous-futurism-1.5036480
Riel, M (2018) Transforming the Future: Anticipation in the 21st Century, Edition: 1st, Routledge / UNESCO,pp.233-246 recovered from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312016855_Gaming_futures_literacy_The_Thing_From_The_Future
