Proud Biripi woman Joedie Lawler returned from a trip to Darwin inspired after a life-changing experience.
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As chairperson of the Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance, Joedie headed a trip to Darwin in August with a collection of 11 woven works by fibre artists from across the Gumbaynggirr, Dunghutti, Biripi and Worimi nations to attend the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF).
The wearable art was shown on the runway at 'Country to Couture', a showcase headed by Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP) of works blending 'fine art with high-end fashion'.
The show was run prior to the National Indigenous Fashion Awards at DAAF, however Joedie said the Saltwater Freshwater collection was not submitted for the awards as she "couldn't get (her) head around how it all worked" as they had to apply to enter the awards.
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The collection was a project completed during COVID lockdowns and exhibited at the Manning Regional Art Gallery in October 2021.
"We did a program to try and keep our artists and designers together," Joedie said.
"We did what we called a wearable weave collection based on cultural stories. Different weavers across four nations from the Gumbaynggirr down to Worimi nations wove cultural stories into wearable artworks."
Two of the 11 pieces were created by Joedie herself, and one by her mother, the late Aunty Pam Saunders. Aunty Pam's piece, titled 'Birrbay Barray (Biripi Country)/Women's Business was a feature piece at the DAAF stand, Joedie said.
"They didn't know Mum had passed and then when they selected the dress I talked to them about Mum and who she was and the fact she was right into fashion and she was a dressmaker and a model," Joedie said.
"I could really feel her beside me buzzing while we're up there, and I said she would have been so excited that each one selected her dress to be in the DAAF stand, but just to have it on the runway and to have Vogue and Marie Claire and all of these internationally known magazines there - yeah, she just would have been just smiling from ear to ear and as proud as punch."
Joedie said it was a big fashion show, with 700 seats around a 60 metre runway, and it was professionally put together and an "amazing experience."
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Following the fashion show and awards, 250 Aboriginal Art Centres from around Australia held stalls selling and distributing their wares for three days.
Joedie was intrigued by the work by Aboriginal community members from Pormpuraaw, on Cape York. Artists there are famous for their ghost net weaves - sculptures of sea creatures made of illegal fishing nets from commercial boats that drift in from the Indonesian seas.
In fact, it was meeting so many other Indigenous artists, not the fashion show itself, that was the highlight for Joedie, she says, networking not just for herself as an artist, but also for Saltwater Freshwater.
"I'm an artist and a weaver, and I've always struggled to try and find an avenue to print my work on, like on material, and be able to expand into another form of artwork," Joedie said.
"Having this experience really opened my eyes to the opportunities out there if you just know where to connect in. I think in the future I'll be branching off into other avenues of artistic expression through clothing."
Joedie found through networking that there were no registered Aboriginal art centres in NSW.
"And there's so many artistic communities and opportunities for communities to tap into that kind of avenue," she said.
A vision reignited
The whole experience at Darwin led Joedie to reflect on her grandparents' vision for the Saunders family.
"I come from a very large family. I think there's about 16 artists in the family who paint, make artifacts and teach culture and dancing and all sorts of things. So it kind of made me think about my own family and the opportunities there to do what my grandparents started."
In 2005 Joedie's grandparents started a corporation called the Bhartoo Aboriginal Corporation with a vision of providing something for the next generation who weren't getting into the family fishing business.
"They saw the potential and what we contributed to community and said we need to do something so our children and our grandchildren and their children and grandchildren have something. So they developed Bhartoo," Joedie explained.
"And for a long time, we haven't really done anything with the business.
"We had a meeting for Bhartoo last month after I'd come back from Darwin, and we talked about the possibilities and the potential and, looking back at what Nan and Pop wanted to set up and make it a reality. And that now possibly is the time to do that, because there's so many different opportunities within culture.
"It's like the world's become awake to our culture, and they're hungry to learn and hungry to want to be a part of it and appreciate it. So I think it's definitely the time to start looking at what we can do to bring their dream or their vision to fruition."
Joedie Lawler's artworks are now being sold at Shed Luxe in Taree, and at Urban Road, an online interior design store.
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