Other creative works - Installation
Osiki Ancestral Tree Roots [Cultural Art Installation]
Kochieng, Kenya
2025
Appears in NTRO Research Collection
Abstract
Research Background
Indigenous perspectives emphasising kinship with nature are often overlooked in human–environment studies (Gauthier et al., 2025). Government and industry development projects can sever reciprocal relationships between Indigenous peoples and their lands and livelihoods (Kennedy et al., 2023; Scheidel et al., 2023), eroding cultural identity, disrupting intergenerational knowledge, and undermining community resilience (Coulthard, 2014; Smith, 2012; Tuck & Yang, 2012; Whyte, 2018).
Research Contribution
This work addresses a gap in dominant climate resilience discourses by embodying Indigenous and ecological perspectives, relational ontologies, and multispecies kinship, contributing to decolonised methodologies in environmental art. The project asks: what futures become possible when ancestral knowledge and ecological kinship are lifted into visibility through eco-cultural art?
Created through participatory, community practice, Osiki elevates the root system — literally and symbolically — to communicate enduring knowledge. It reframes resilience as a cultural and spiritual process rooted in intergenerational belonging. The research contributes a NTRO that bridges academic and community worlds through multisensory engagement, offering new ways to understand human–nature–culture relationships.
Research Significance
The installation challenges mechanistic resilience views, offering holistic frameworks for socio-ecological transformation. Created through community partnership with strong local and regional support (Willcocks, 2025), it demonstrates excellence in participatory research and cultural collaboration, providing accessible engagement with complex environmental concepts while honouring Luo cultural protocols and knowledge systems.
Details
- Title
- Osiki Ancestral Tree Roots [Cultural Art Installation]
- Authors
- Samantha Willcocks - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and SocietyGeorge OkothRiw-Rok Luo Collective (Contributor)
- Event details
- Kochieng, Kenya
- Date published
- 2025
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991141839402621
- Output Type
- Other creative works; Installation
- NTRO Classification
- NT3
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