Yesterday was the 16th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
A document that expresses the global understanding that First Nations peoples around the world are not receiving the baseline rights that non-Indigenous peoples are receiving. An expression to address and change the deep seeded global inequality we see in almost every colonised society. A document that aims to set the parameters that support the stability of First Nations lives, that their culture is important, their voices are important, that the world has said we can do better.
"It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to Indigenous peoples. The Declaration is particularly significant because Indigenous peoples, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, were involved in its drafting." - United Nations
Why is this important for design?
When we design we are communicating.
Every line we draw, every item we specify, every view we capture, all express a value system. What we deem to be important to "good design". When we invest in exclusionary design vernaculars, such as we see through gentrification and aggressive architecture, we are designing portions of society out of a space.
If you as a peoples, are designed out of a community, how can you engage with it.
As Aboriginal people, when we are not acknowledged in design, when we are designed out of our own Countries, how can we engage with it.
Without an identity in the urban fabric, how can we have a voice? and without a voice, how can we have agency to shape our own futures and break down systemic issues?
When we design we are enacting.
To design with First Nations peoples is to design to and for the basic rights of First Nations people. To design with Country is to support the voice and identity that drives agency and self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
By deeply considering what it is to design, we can understand the role we play in shaping the value systems of society.
Documents such as the UNDRIP, Closing The Gap, and notions of Gender Equity, Feminism Through Design, Climate Change all become fundamental tools to design through value systems rather than through commercialism.
If we actually hope to better our society, unify communities, and drive change in the world we live in, we need to understand the language of change, the language of design.
For all the efforts of our old people. We have a responsibility to take carriage of change and shape the futures we hope for.
Written by Owen Cafe, Connection to Country Committee Member.