MEDIA RELEASE

6 August 2024

‘NPA Artists Taking Country to Catwalks’

Fashion artists from the Northern Peninsula Area at the tip of Cape York saw their unique designs strut the catwalks of Country to Couture shows in Darwin for the first time – at the annual showcase of First Nations textiles and fashion design.

The national ‘Country to Couture’ event held on 6 August 2024 alongside the annual Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair is “where First Nations textiles, fashion and art collide in a colourful showcase of creativity from across Australia”.

This year, four artists from Northern Peninsula Area Arts Centre have designed a Country-inspired tropical collection from silks, linen, and cotton wearable art garments, and accessories, to strut Darwin’s sold-out catwalk shows – on their road to building a sustainable enterprise model.

Now in its ninth year, fashion designs selected for Country to Couture must display a strong collection of stories with cultural integrity of fabric innovation, sustainability and ethics, and cultural authenticity.

Artist Renae Nona joins Joy Tapau, Colina Wymarra and Leighann Ober to showcase their designs on the runways. A Torres Strait Islander, Renae is inspired by the sea, ailan (island life-style) and nature’s treasures.

Renae’s favourite design influence is the red wongai fruit, which she has used to dye silk fabric. Enjoyed by her family for generations is a dish of Wongai, coconut milk, and flour known as ‘sabi wongai’. Renae says it is one of her most cherished pastimes and reminds her of a happy childhood with family on Thursday Island. 

“One of my favourite things to do is to collect wongai with Dad,” she says fondly remembering their wanders along island shorelines and coasts of Northern Peninsula Area.

Originally from Thursday Island, with ties through her father to Badu Island and her mother to Mer Island – Renae started her career as a graphic artist at the Torres News.

A calling to join the public service, Renae served as a police officer in Brisbane and Cairns before joining Queensland Health in administration.

Art was always her passion, and as a designer Renae features other influences from nature in her designs, such as trochus shells – which her granddad had collected for years to supply a button trade of the past.

Using natural fabric dyes – with shades of tarragon, plum, waratah, opal, beetroot and citrus, the intensity of colour depends on type of fabrics used.

Renae’s collection includes a cotton design that showcases her days crayfish diving with her father in the Torres Strait – a striking tricolour shift dress inspired by marine seas and coral reefs. Another features dyed silk shorts with crepe de chine kimono with a design of the mangroves of Prince of Wales Island where she fished with her Uncle Sam Mills. 

Now based in the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape York, Renae works out of the NPA Art Centre with the other artists showing their fashions on the catwalks of Darwin. The event builds on the growing textile design movement in remote Indigenous communities that aims to build sustainable economic opportunities.

NPA Art Centre Manager Dev Lengjel, with generous sponsorship by Rio Tinto, successfully secured this opportunity for the artists to develop an NPA Design collection for the famed event held on Larrakia Country.

“The artists are thrilled to be in the Country to Couture shows to showcase the colourful heritage of the NPA,” said Lengjel, adding that Gab Titui Cultural Centre will host an NPA display at the art fair – together with Torres Strait Islander artists – with local works by Sandra Kaddy, Norman Young, Agnes Mark and the four designers showing on the runway.

A range of local designs and artworks are available for sale at the NPA Art Centre, in New Mapoon, Cape York. Operated by the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council, this remote art centre - located 1000km north of Cairns, is exploring new economic pathways including online sales.

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For more information, see: https://www.nparc.qld.gov.au/art-centre-1 

About Country to Couture: https://www.ifp.org.au/events/country-to-couture/

** NB. NPA Designs collection titled “Big Colours” will feature in Show 2 – Boundless, with designers from Alice Springs, Ceduna, Broome, MacDonnell Ranges, Arnhem Land, Tamworth, and Moreton Bay. See: Show 2 – Boundless: https://www.ifp.org.au/boundless/

See more images and story on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/nyCYjEU5MozxDuLa/

Media enquiries: Kerrie Hall - Communications & Media Coordinator

E: Kerrie.hall@nparc.qld.gov.au / M: 0461 320149