Visualising rights through practices of survivance: Examining practical enactments of rights and survivance in the photographic works of Brenda L. Croft and Rosalie Favell

This thesis explores the role of historical and contemporary photographs in the creative practices of Indigenous contemporary artists Brenda L. Croft (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra, Australia) and Rosalie Favell (Métis, Canada). Through a case study approach to their artworks, it examines how Croft and Favell visualise the complexity of embodied lived experiences, survivance, and Indigenous sovereignty. It highlights the political dimensions of intergenerational storytelling, the familial and personal within colonial and Indigenous histories in Australia and Canada. This thesis also argues that their practices contribute to a contemporary understanding of survivance and an alternative way of visualising human rights.