Local artist make their mark on international fashion industry
Indigenous fashion designers from one of Australia’s most remote communities have seen their work strutted on catwalks in Paris, New York and Sydney.
Ikuntji Artists Aboriginal Corporation received a $100,000 Aboriginal Workforce Grant (AWG) from the Northern Territory Government to hold a series of workshops, which included fabric design printing support, textile design and screen printing.
The workshops helped train a group of local designers: Hayley Dodd, Noreen Dixon, Ena Lane, Pam Brown, Doreen Lane, Walter Jugadai, Herman Whiskey, Virgillia Multa, Roseranna Larry, Alison Multa and Kelly Dixon.
The artists’ fabrics have been shown at fashion shows around the world and have featured on the cover of the Australian Vogue.
Corporation manager Dr Chrischona Schmidt says: “Receiving the AWG funding has meant that we were able to upskill a large group of designers to give them an in-depth understanding of all the processes involved until a design is on a fabric and finally on the runway.
“It has enabled the artists to think deeply about the applications of their designs, the layout of them and the work involved in creating a piece.
“Furthermore, all artists have received training to print t-shirts and fabrics by the metre themselves.
“This means that artists have now received training in all aspects of the screenprinting business and are able to work with designs in a very sophisticated manner.”
Ikuntji Artists is a not-for-profit Aboriginal art centre at Haasts Bluff, a community of only 150 people 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs.
The Aboriginal Workforce Grants program, administered by the NT Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, provides funding for projects that result in Aboriginal people getting jobs and developing careers.
More information about the Aboriginal Workforce Grants or other business support programs
