Jamaylya
Ballangarry-Kearins

Djabuguy and Gumbangirr

Jamaylya is our magical IndigeDesignLabs coordinator who work with NorthSite Contemporary Arts and stakeholders that we are working with to increase the engagement of our projects and attract talented young people to the project.

Jamaylya is a talented photographer with a keen eye for film and design. I prefer to speed date my way through the arts spending fleeting moments learning basic skills for animation, dark room photography, lino printing, painting and fashion illustration but never fully majoring in any one and I believe this is because the art/design I like to create is ever changing and with evolving thoughts I need to be able to move freely through mediums so I can find the right one to translate what I am trying to say and not everyone responds to pictures or painting especially when we talk about politics, religion, sexuality and environment

Indigenous Design Labs inspires me to never stop learning, absorbing and growing in my understanding of life, politics, art, design and media. As newly appointed program coordinator it has been an amazing and enjoyable experience to come full circle and work alongside my long term mentor and Uncle Leigh Harris in a program that at its core delivers something leigh has given to myself and so many other cairns based creatives over the last 25+ years. I’m so grateful to be a part of this momentous moment where we see Leigh getting his dues in a funded program to teach our youth the importance of creativity, self sufficiency as well as the importance of community empowerment and I thank Northsite contemporary for believing in us and hosting us in these infant days of the program.

I encourage all young Indigenous people in the Gimuy and surrounding areas who have an interest in design, art and media to consider reaching out. We are a collective who never want to stop growing and you may just have the skill we need or didn’t know we needed until you say – whichway?.