Beyond the Wild: A First Nations Perspective on Country, Sensory Knowledge, and Phenomenology Through Arts-Based Explorations

Land and place are often framed within Western ecological traditions as “wild”, meaning pristine, uninhabited, and separate from human life, yet from a First Nations perspective no place exists without relationship, story, or responsibility. This study investigates how environmental understanding emerges when land is approached as a living, relational system rather than an object of detached observation. Guided by a sensory–phenomenological framework, the research brings together phenomenological attention to lived experience with First Nations sensory practices and arts-based methods. Fieldwork was undertaken on Dharug Country with First Nations women artists and cultural practitioners and involved walking on Country, deep listening, stillness, sensory mapping, visual making, and group yarning as interconnected ways of generating knowledge. The findings show that environmental awareness developed through attention to sound, rhythm, vibration, seasonal change, and affect, revealing Country as an active participant in knowledge formation rather than a passive setting. The study concludes that what is commonly described as “the wild” is not unknown or untouched but deeply known through sustained sensory, relational, and creative engagement, demonstrating that ecological reconnection arises through ethical, culturally grounded relationships with living systems and offering implications for more respectful, place-responsive approaches to environmental research and care.