Pujiman ↔ PujimanDreams Across Two Deserts

Who we are

Two desert cultures. One shared vision.

Five Elders seated in a row in front of a thatched hut in late afternoon light.
Paradise Village, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia, October 2025.

Two desert cultures

Martu belong to Australia's Western Desert and Ju/'hoansi to the Kalahari basin in north-east Namibia.

Despite being two of the oldest cultures in the world - separated by an ocean and an eternity - Martu and Ju/'hoansi share uncanny similarities both in their traditional and modern stories.

A hand pointing at a photograph of Martu artwork, viewed over someone's shoulder.
Nuriah Jadai describes the composition of the Kintyre artwork, painted by members of the Taylor and Jadai family with Martumili Artists, to Ju/'hoansi community members in Dou Pos Village, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia, October 2025.

What the two peoples share

  • Both hold deep knowledge of desert Country.
  • Both maintain hunting and gathering traditions today.
  • Both experienced displacement from their ancestral lands in the mid twentieth century.
  • Both led homelands movements away from towns and back to their traditional water places in the 1970s and 1980s.

Today, both cultures continue to hold language, cultural knowledge, tracking traditions, storytelling and creative practice. They share a determination to keep culture strong for future generations.

This is a First Nations-led exchange. Martu and Ju/'hoansi people determine the stories that are shared, the knowledge that remains culturally held, and where the project goes at each step.

Two women seated together, looking directly at the camera. One wears a purple dot-design top, the other a pink headscarf and beads.
Nuriah Jadai and Tci!xo Debe, Dou Pos Village, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia, October 2025.
Two men leaning over a booklet together, heads down, completely absorbed.
Senior interpreters, Desmond Taylor and Sao Jeffrey Gomi, compare Martu and Ju/'hoansi cultural similarities in Paradise Village, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia, October 2025.

The people

  • Portrait of Desmond Taylor. Desmond Taylor Martu artist, linguist, interpreter and envisioner of the Pujiman to Pujiman exchange
  • Portrait of Nuriah Jadai. Nuriah Jadai Martu artist, activist and young leader
  • Portrait of Muuki Taylor OAM. Muuki Taylor OAM Senior Martu Elder, loreman, artist and cultural leader
  • Portrait of ≠Oma Leon Tsamkxao. ≠Oma Leon Tsamkxao Ju/'hoansi cultural and community leader
  • Portrait of ≠Oma Tsamkxao, Chief Bobo. ≠Oma Tsamkxao (Chief Bobo) Senior Ju/'hoansi cultural leader, Head of the Ju/'hoansi Traditional Authority and Administrative Chief of the Nyae Nyae region
  • Camera Story Project partner, documentation and creative production
  • Nyae Nyae Conservancy Project partner in Namibia
  • The auspicing organisation Camera Story Ltd is a registered charity on Djugun and Yawuru Country in the Kimberley. Sarah Landro and Jacqueline Warrick founded it. Since 2012 it has worked alongside First Nations people living in remote Australia. Through photography, it provides access to specialised arts education, professional resources and culturally safe opportunities that support independence, amplify voice and address systemic barriers.
  • Funding All funding is auspiced by Camera Story Ltd, as per guidance from Martu and Ju/'hoansi project participants.

A note on the photographs. Every image here was made during the October 2025 exchange.

To ask anything, email sarah@camerastory.com.au.

Next: The journey so far →
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