My search for a National History Day (NHD) topic began in September of 2022 when my teacher Mr. Matthew Elms suggested that I visit an Indigenous Australian art exhibition at the National Gallery of Singapore. The exhibit encompassed the historical and contemporary works of over 150 Indigenous Australians covering pre-colonial times to the modern day. I found out later that it was the largest exhibition of its kind to travel to Asia. At the museum, I saw a range of objects highlighting the broad range of Indigenous Australian art which was mesmerizing in its complexity, history and beauty. The paintings told stories of their beginnings, their culture and their land.

I was stunned by the breadth and scale of the artwork. I wanted to know how Indigenous Australian art evolved from patterns on tree barks and cowrie shells to captivating large scale canvases. Among the artwork, one in particular caught my eye; under the captions in small print, it mentioned a settlement in Western Australia called Papunya where different Indigenous Australian tribes were living together in the 1970s, eventually painting some of the most significant works to emerge from Australia. I was intrigued by this piece of history and wanted to find out more.

I learned about the incredible Papunya Tula Art Movement, and that Indigenous Australians, with over 60,000 years of history, were the oldest continuous surviving culture in the world. This movement allowed for the rise of Indigenous Australian art to the contemporary world stage and forged a pathway for them to assert their unique worldview and preserve their culture, despite the forces of colonization.

Through a deep research process from September to June of 2023, I pored through books and art exhibition catalogs, creating a script that would best tell a succinct ten minute story of the Papunya Tula Art Movement and its impact on Indigenous Australian culture and livelihood. Not only did I have to learn how to research, conduct interviews, and create annotated bibliographies, I also had to understand the art and craft of editing and making a documentary—a monumental task that I was not entirely sure I was up to. In May 2023, I interviewed Fred Myers, an esteemed Professor of Anthropology at NYU who was doing his PhD dissertation research in the 1970s at Papunya. His in-depth knowledge and first hand account of what happened during that time provided me with invaluable insight. I also contacted Roopa Dewan, a docent at the National Gallery of Singapore whose suggestions were immensely helpful in building a foundation for my project. With these interviews along with a variety of primary sources from books, the Library of Congress, and Australian state libraries, I crafted my documentary with the goal of telling a compelling and fair story that represented the many stakeholders involved.

After much thought, I decided to begin my documentary with a clip from my interview with indigenous artist Marlene Nampitjinpa, because through all the complexities and perspectives, it was the Indigenous Australian story that ultimately mattered. With my inexperience, the editing process was long and tedious, and incorporating the feedback that I received from teachers and judges along the way added to the editing timeline, but in the end enriched my documentary for the better.

At the end of a year-long intense journey working on this project, I was fortunate enough to go to the National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland with my documentary winning the third prize overall. Towards the end of 2023, I was so honored to be interviewed by the Library of Congress, and am beyond grateful for the opportunity to speak to acclaimed historical documentary filmmakers such as the incomparable Ken Burns. I cannot imagine completing this documentary without the help of so many, particularly my family and my teacher who believed and supported me each and every step of the way. What a year this has been!