Blak Design, now in its fourth year, is a collaboration between Koorie Heritage Trust and RMIT University to form a creative hotbed for First Peoples artists based in Victoria. In previous years jewellery and ceramics were the project’s focus, but this year it’s fashion and textiles, and the results are now on display at Federation Square. The exhibition shows fashion crafted using local Indigenous materials, symbolisms and knowledge interwoven (literally) with all the training and resources RMIT’s fashion department has to offer.
Occupying two rooms in the Birrarung Building, tucked into a corner of Federation Square’s courtyard, the exhibition impresses with a blend of catwalk-worthy glamour and natural materials such as fur, feathers, shells, leather and bark. It features the works of eight artists, all of them local Indigenous Australians.
Emma Stenhouse (Ngarrindjeri) offers four startlingly diverse pieces, one a skirt adorned with banksia prints and an apron of interwoven circles, looking very traditional next to her multi-textile dress, a much more contemporary pastiche reminiscent of some of Blancore’s earlier fashions.
The works of Michelle Searle (Awabakal) use feathers, fur and leather to create complete outfits with dress, necklace and feather-dangling earrings. Matty Chilly (Wiradjuri, Wamba Wamba, Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, Waddi Waddi, Barapa Barapa, Gubbi Gubbi, Nari Nari, Yitti Yitti, and ties to Māori Iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand), offers equally diverse works, one a struttingly proud conglomerate of Indigenous motifs and materials, presented on the canvas of a conventional Western business suit, deliberately juxtaposing them as conflicting neighbours. The result is a very fashionable statement, one to wear in front of cameras.
Teena Moffatt (Yorta Yorta, Gunaikurnai, Gunditjmara) similarly uses more conventional Western fashion design as a canvas to explore her own heritage and identity, although she prefers to blend them together rather than juxtapose, blending two worlds seamlessly with a range of dresses, skirts, tops and jackets. Like every piece in this exhibition, it’s fashion with something to say, subtly or otherwise.
All eight of the artists’ works are held together thematically, but are all incredibly different from one another, and indeed many of the artists dabble in various styles and materials. With this in mind, the exhibition has been curated beautifully, highlighting the similarities, differences and strengths of each piece individually and collectively.
Read: Exhibition review: Precious, Museum of Brisbane
So next time you’re anywhere near Federation Square (and, let’s face it, it’s in the middle of everything), take time to find the Birrarung Building (it’s up the back of the courtyard, across from the ACMI entrance), and find this show on the second floor. Entry is free, but you can, as Banksy said, exit through the gift shop.
Stitchin’ Stories: Blak & Threadly will be exhibited until 18 May 2025 at the Koorie Heritage Trust (KHT), Birrarung Building, Fed Square.
