First Nations brands are reshaping the fashion landscape in Australia – with culture, Country, and language woven within the rich variety of expressions. Here are our favourite First Nation creatives to follow on social media right now.
This week at FIB, we spotlight some of Australia’s most authentic, promising, and prodigious talents. This selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and creatives include a singer-songwriter, multidimensional artist, model, actress, writer, painters, designers, advocates and more. Needless to say, Australia has some deadly home-grown talent.
Jem Cassar-Daley: Singer/Songwriter
Jem Cassar-Daley is a Brisbane-based singer-songwriter who first graced our attention in 2021 with her single’ Letting Go’ and her latest single ‘Changes’.
Her sound is blissful, a blend of indie folk-pop that could easily take a seat alongside Angus & Julia Stone and Missy Higgins. Daley’s guitar, piano, singing and songwriting talents have earned her a 2022 Queensland Music Awards nomination and a spot on some serious lineups. One in particularly- the upcoming Jungle Love Music & Arts Festival!
Daley may still be in the early days of her solo music career at only 21-years-of-age, but she is already an industry force.
Gumbaynggirr: an Australian Aboriginal tribe on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.
Bundjalung: are Australian Aboriginal tribe who are the original custodians of the northern coastal area of New South Wales.
Aretha Brown: Painter, Comedian + Founder of **Kiss My Art Collective
Gumbaynggirr woman, Aretha Brown, made her public debut in 2017 with her speech during Melbourne’s Invasion Day march. Ever since she has been loud and making great use of her robust and growing platform.
She is an artist, activist and comedian, and the former Prime Minister of the National Indigenous Youth Parliament. And if achieving Prime Minister wasn’t enough, she was the youngest and first female to do it.
Now, at only 21 years of age, she continues to advocate for Indigenous Australians and the LGBTQIA+ community through art, the written word and her foundation Kiss My Art Collective.
Kiss My Art Collective was established by Brown in 2019 to help champion young women and non-binary artists by providing jobs, work experience and a safe, creative space on large scale public murals throughout Melbourne and Sydney.
Gumbaynggirr: an Australian Aboriginal tribe on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.
Lyn Al Young: Designer
Lyn-Al Young is the founder and designer of the namesake label, Lyn-Al. Young celebrates her Gunnai, Wiradjuri, Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta culture through fashion, art and design. She has partnered with Vogue Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria and has had her own runway at Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival.
“I work mostly with beautiful, soft silk to create one-off pieces…each one tells a deep story connected to me, my family, my mob and Country,”
-Young
When admiring her designs, reading her words, or hearing her speak, you get an understanding of just how authentic and culturally embedded her work really is. “My grandmother is a Yorta Yorta woman and grew up by the Murray River…It’s a culturally significant place for me, and I feel more connected when I paint there,” she added.
As she paints, often in nature, upon the soft and delicate silk, she sings. This sort of artistry simply cannot be replicated.
Gunnai: The Aboriginal Australian Peoples who’s land extend south-east Australia
Wiradjuri: The Aboriginal Australian People’s who’s land extend central New South Wales
Gunditjmara: The Aboriginal Australian People’s who’s land extend southwestern Victoria
Yorta Yorta: an Aboriginal Australian who has traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.
Billy Bain: Multidisciplinary Artist
Billy Bain is a multidisciplinary artist based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches- otherwise known as a breeding ground for toxic virility. Through his art, Bain is on a mission to dismantle this fact- even if just a little. His work is humorous and open-ended, meaning different things to different people.
Though, in looking closely, Bain’s work does well in humouring our Australian sense of identity. And rightly so. He is constantly questioning what it really means to be an Australian male. Even more so, what it means to be an Australian male who exists beyond the outdated ideals.
Bain engages in printmaking (etchings), ceramic sculpture and painting, honouring his Indigenous identity and simultaneously breaking Australian masculinity ideologies. Billy has recently announced his second solo show and first public gallery, “Being Manly”, which opens on March 25th at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum.
Darug: an Aboriginal Australian tribe located throughout much of modern-day Sydney.
Nakkiah Lui (She/Her): Actor, Writer and Comedian
Nakkiah Lui is a Gamilaroi and Torres Strait Islander woman and a true national treasure. She is the writer, actress, and director of the four-year-running series Black Comedy. Lui has had similar success with her series, Preppers, in which she was a co-creator, show-runner and star. Meanwhile, Lui has hosted two podcasts, written several astonishing plays, and launched a book. Takes deep breath**
Her documentary-style podcast, hosted alongside Miranda Tapsell (best known for her role in The Sapphires), is Debutante: Race, Resistance & Girl Power. A show that explores the question- “Is it really possible that this fusty old relic of colonialism could be the answer to girl power in the 21st Century?”.
Gamilaroi: an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland.
Nathan McGuire: Model, Founder of Solid Ochre and Director of Mob in Fashion
Nathan McGuire has modelled for major domestic and international labels, including Country Road, David Jones, R.M. Williams, Tiffany’s, Dior and Nike. Now, with over 12K followers on Instagram, McGuire uses his platform and experience to raise the voices of other First Nations creatives.
It was in this pursuit that Mob in Fashion was created. Mob in Fashion is McGuire’s initiative to provide First Nation people with a foot-in-the-door to an industry that so often closed for such people. The foundation will provide learning and development opportunities for industry talents and support First Nation people of all ages and experience levels.
“For me, it’s about creating these meaningful career opportunities as a gateway to the industry,”
-McGuire
As for Solid Ochre, McGuire’s other venture, it is still in its infancy. However, the fashion label inspired by culture and connection to Country has us all awaiting its take-off.
Whadjuk: an Aboriginal Australian tribe of the Western Australian region of the Perth bioregion of the Swan Coastal Plain.
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