My Grand­mother’s Lingo

My Grandmother’s Lingo is an immersive web documentary that combines voice-activated technology, illustration, animation, and music to tell the story of a young Aboriginal woman from the remote North East Arnhem Land community of Ngukurr – Angelina Joshua.

Angelina’s efforts to preserve her language during a time when many Indigenous tongues are in danger of extinction are at the heart of this work. Once gone, they are gone forever, so we wanted the experience to not only convey Angelina’s powerful story but teach users in a fun and engaging way.

Our approach was to bring the user into the story by creating participatory moments to learn some Marra, Angelina’s mother tongue. By combining cutting-edge voice recognition technology with hand-drawn illustrations from renowned Gomeroi and Mandandanji artist Jake Duczynski and original music from Indigenous music producer Kuren (aka Curtis Kennedy), we were able to beautifully highlight this vital story and encourage greater awareness of the plight of endangered languages.

Appealing to young, curious minds and adults alike, the result is an evocative game-like experience that transcends traditional storytelling methods in favour of something more involved, intimate and ultimately more revealing than conventional web experiences.