Yankunytjatjara Wangka Graffiti Traineeship
June 7, 2025
Over the last 6 months, Josh Hughes has been working with the Mobile Language Team through a traineeship to explore his language and his graffiti artwork. He’s building a portfolio that uses his language and graffiti/street art to strengthen his Yankunytjatjara language. Growing up between Adelaide and the APY Lands, Josh is finding ways his love for art and graffiti culture can combine with his Yankunytjatjara language and culture to make a positive contribution to his community.
As part of the Pathways to Community-Led Language Work project, Josh has been supported by the Mobile Language Team to explore his language, develop his art skills, and build a portfolio of work that highlights his use of language through his graffiti/street art style.
Weekly graffiti/street art murals in language have been a big part of the project and have given Josh a chance to develop his can work and mural skills at proper scale—something that’s always a challenge when becoming a graffiti artist.
Working with language workers and linguists at the Mobile Language Team, Josh has also been developing his language skills—exploring different language he knows and how it might be represented through artwork. Using words like wapar (story), ngura (home), puyu (smoke), and manta (land).
The three-month traineeship at the Mobile Language Team has given him space, time, and expert support to build language confidence, explore different methods of language work, and develop a strong portfolio that can help build a career and future for Josh as a professional artist contributing to the strength of the Yankunytjatjara language and community.
Looking ahead, Josh has put forward applications for creative grants to paint murals in wangka in his communities in the north of the state and developed a portfolio for potential new work as it emerges in this space. He hopes to encourage young Aṉangu to explore different ways they can use their wangka to strengthen it for future generations.
Watch Josh’s story below.
If you’re looking for different ways to get involved with your language community and build resources and projects around it, the MLT runs traineeships throughout the year. Contact us to find out how you can get involved.
You can find more of Josh’s work and get in contact with him for commissions at JoshHughes.art.