Growing Up Nyima is a coming-of-age documentary filmed between 2025 and 2026. Photographer and filmmaker Harry Cunningham follows Nyima Tucker, a young Gnarluma, Banjima, and Yamatji woman navigating life between city and country.
Born in the Pilbara, where her ancestral roots run deep, Nyima was raised in Karratha before moving to Perth at 16. Living between these two worlds modern and ancient, urban and remote, separated by 1,500 kilometres of desert she grapples with identity, belonging, and the ever-calling of home.
Nyima embraces modern life she loves photoshoots, creating social media content, dressing up, and going out, with dreams of traveling the world like many young women her age. At the same time, she holds a deep connection to her culture and family. Yet the film also reveals a more complex reality: for many Indigenous people, connection to country is not always something fully experienced or easily accessed.
Through an intimate, first-hand lens, the film offers a rare insight into the lived experience of a young Indigenous woman growing up in Australia today. It does not romanticise or simplify that experience; instead, it remains grounded in the realities of everyday life its tensions, humour, and contradictions—subtly reshaping perceptions.
As Nyima returns home for the first time as an adult, she encounters her country in new ways, including the rock art of Murujuga seeing up close for the first time—an experience that both connection and distance, and a growing connection to her culture.
Nyima is thoughtful, sharp, and disarmingly funny. She loves her family, her culture, and her country. Without trying to be, she emerges as a role model, simply through her honesty and the way she moves through the world as herself.
At a time when Indigenous stories are often told through the perspectives of older generations, Growing Up Nyima amplifies a younger voice—capturing the resilience, nuance, and lived reality of a new generation navigating both city and country, and offering a sense of hope for the future of Indigenous Australia.
If you are interested in hosting a screening + talk and Q&A get in touch below.
Nyima Tucker lives in Perth. At 19, her everyday life is familiar and relatable, she loves making TikToks, experimenting with makeup, modelling and doing photoshoots, going to the beach, and spending time with friends. These ordinary moments sit alongside her deeper cultural connections, offering an honest portrait of a young woman growing up in contemporary Australia.
Nyima also spends time with her mother, connecting with her Banjima and Yamaji side. Together they share everyday moments, shopping, going to the beach, and simply spending time together, grounding Nyima’s life in family, care, and connection across both sides of her heritage.
Across 1,500 kilometres, a 16-hour drive from Perth, lies Karratha, where Nyima grew up. It is where she went to school and where many of her formative memories were made, spending time fishing and crabbing with family. More of her cousins and grandparents live here, making Karratha a place of deep connection, belonging, and shared history.
Murujuga is home to one of the world’s largest and oldest collections of rock art, with petroglyphs dating back tens of thousands of years. Etched into the stone are stories of ancestors, animals, ceremonies, and changing landscapes, forming a living cultural archive that continues to hold deep spiritual and cultural significance for Traditional Owners. The rock art is not just history, but an ongoing connection to Country, law, and identity.
During the project, Nyima visited the Murujuga rock art for the first time with her cousin Jade Churnside, who also has ancestral ties to the area. Walking through the landscape together, the visit became a moment of learning, reflection, and connection, linking generations through place, story, and shared heritage.
Nyima sits on the ancient rocks of the Burrup Peninsula at sunset, as the golden light makes the stones grow deep red and slowly fades against the outlines of gas plants in the distance. The land beneath her carries tens of thousands of years of cultural history, etched in the very stones that surround her, while the industrial landscape beyond represents the region’s modern economic reality. She understands why the gas plants are there, yet she can feel an imbalance as they slowly encroach upon her ancestral lands. The flickering flames and towering structures mark the presence of industry, yet the sacredness of the land remains ever-present, grounding her in a connection that has lasted generations.
As evening settles in, Nyima reflects on both the past and the future. She feels the weight of ancestral stories embedded in the rocks beneath her and the pull of modern life represented by the distant industrial lights. At times, she feels helpless in her position, caught between worlds she does not fully control, yet she puts her faith in the wisdom and guidance of her elders. Here, two worlds collide, tradition and industry, culture and commerce, ancient Country and contemporary city life, each shaping who she is and the choices she faces. In this quiet moment, the Burrup Peninsula becomes a space for understanding and reconciliation, highlighting the delicate balance between heritage and progress, and the importance of navigating both worlds.
