Graphic novel brings Indigenous creation stories to a new generation

ILLUSTRATOR Alex Mankiewicz will talk about her ground-breaking graphic novel sharing Indigenous creation stories at The Book Room in Byron Bay on Friday, February 21.

Mankiewicz, who divides her time between Byron Bay and Japan, was commissioned by Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation to tell Yindjibarndi cultural stories in a way that would appeal to young people for the book, When the World was Soft.

The idea came about during the COVID-19 pandemic when, unable to return to Kyoto, Mankiewicz instead took the opportunity to travel to Western Australia’s Pilbara region with a friend who was making cultural training videos for mining company Rio Tinto.

Mankiewicz had always been interested in telling stories of modern Aboriginal history in graphic art form and floated the idea with elders around the campfire one night. But they instead invited her to create a book telling cultural origin stories.

“It was a tremendous honour but also incredibly intimidating in terms of how I would do it justice,” Mankiewicz said.

Yindjibarndi believe at the dawn of time, Ngurra Nyujunggamu, the world was soft as clay and the sky was very low and the Creator, Minkala, sang the songs from which all life evolved.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which provides culturally relevant books to remote communities around Australia, has ordered 1000 copies of the book.

Mankiewicz, a former art director for Byron Arts Magazine who has twice been shortlisted in the Comic Arts Awards of Australia, said she would be open to creating similar books for other mobs.

“I think one of the fundamental successes of this project was that there was respect and trust on all sides,” she said. “They gave me the stories and trusted me to bring what I could to the interpretation.”

As well as discussing tales from the book and their backstory, Mankiewicz will talk about the approach and value of graphic narrative storytelling in general at the event.

To register, visit thebookroomatbyron.com.