Seatbelt Tjura

Added by Milpa Tjuntjuntjara Arts Project

Description Seatbelt Tjura is a Anangu stop motion film spoken in Pitjantjatjara, an Indigenous Dialect. Milpa Project under the guidance of the Spinifex Arts Project. The Milpa Project is located in Tjuntjuntjara community, one of Australia’s most remote Indigenous communities, 650kms east of Kalgoorlie in the Great Victoria Desert. The Milpa Project’s core group of Anangu* artists include Timo Hogan, Kumanara Stevens and Sophia Brown.

Pitjantjatjara is a dialect of the Western Desert language, spoken by over approximately 3000 people across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The artists started working together in May 2018 a community driven, artistic response to a very serious issue affecting many Indigenous communities across Australia. Multiple driving offences such as not wearing a seatbelt, driving without a license or driving an unroadworthy vehicle are resulting in large fines (and in some cases incarceration) for a significant number of Indigenous Australians. In the Great Victoria Desert communities, where English is often a second or third language, this can be partly attributed to the limited Pitjantjatjara language educational driver resources available. The Milpa Project has enabled the artists to respond to, and address this serious issue through education via their artwork. By creating puppetry, multimedia and storytelling in Pitjantjatjara language the artists along with multimedia artist Ange Leech have produced short animations and artworks enabling each artist to share their ideas and stories with community.
* Anangu ‘local community members’ Pitjantjatjara

The Milpa project would like thank all those involved with the development of the project.
Milpa is funded by the Spinifex Arts Project, Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body and AngloGold Ashanti Australia Ltd. The Spinifex Arts Project is supported by the Australian Government Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS).
Milpa thanks the on-ground sponsorship support from the local Tjuntjuntjara community and organisations including Paupiyala Tjarutja Aboriginal Corporation and Tjuntjuntjara Remote Community School.

Also Adult Community Corrections, Department of Justice, Department Of Transport, DBuild & Co, Desart. Hertz Car Rental Kalgoorlie Airport, Jen Kluken, John Carty, Kate Rice, Nesstrans Logistics, Pindan, Roadwise and SDERA (School Drug Education & Road Aware) Keys 4 Life.