Raptures of applause and cheers sang out from Celebrity Tree Park as nine Indigenous models took to the makeshift catwalk at the Boonkaj Fashion Parade, part of the Boab Metals Ord Valley Muster, Art In The Park, held in Kununurra.
Fashion show of handcrafted textiles at Boab Metals Ord Valley Muster Art in the Park
The Boonkaj Collection celebrates the 'emerging or coming out' of designs by five textile artists from Waringarri Aboriginal Arts in Kununurra, in north east Western Australia.
The artists Anita Churchill, Delany Griffiths, Dora Griffiths, Kelly-Ann Drill, and Cathy Ward block printed textiles by hand, which are designed and made into garments.
Seven female and two male models walked the hessian catwalk to showcase the new Boonkaj collection, with the pieces available to purchase at Waringarri Arts or online.
Delany Griffiths, 35, is one of the young artists at Waringarri Arts who enjoys working with fabric.
"We use lino and carve designs on that and then block print the fabric, my designs are of carved boab nuts," Ms Griffiths said.
"It makes me really proud to see the models wearing the clothes made of fabric that I printed."
Since 2016, Waringarri Arts textiles has grown out of the Dawang Linawoong Ngoondengig-gerring (DLNg) program, which provides opportunity for new and emerging artists to develop their creative cultural expressions across a range of traditional and contemporary mediums.
Dawang Linawoong Ngoondengig-gerring – a Miriwoong phrase meaning 'place where ideas are made good' is an ongoing arts development program focused on enabling creativity, new artistic approaches and sustainable arts practice that supports the next generation of arts leaders.
The textiles medium has engaged a growing number of new and younger artists as well as enabled emerging artists to expand their creative outputs and experiment with new designs, colours and creative opportunity.
Mentored by senior artists, Waringarri Arts maintains cultural knowledge and enables artists to develop skills in stamp and screen printing techniques to produce unique fabric lengths on linens.
Fashion Show co-ordinator and model, Brittany Pitt-Lancaster, was responsible for selecting the models, styling and organising the show.
"It was such a privilege and proud experience to be able to model and showcase the artist's amazing work on the runway," Ms Pitt-Lancaster said.
In partnership with designers, Waringarri Arts has been producing textiles, first making bags and cushion covers in 2018, and in 2019, began making garments.
"Our dream is to develop the textiles as a sustainable enterprise within the overall art centre operations that provides opportunity for creativity with social, cultural and economic benefits for artists and community," said a Waringarri Arts spokesperson.
"We have been involved in Country to Couture which is part of the Darwin Festival, and the Boonkaj collection and our models are involved in Kafta in Broome, previously known as Skutta."
All of the hand printed designs are created on Miriwoong Country.
This is the second time Boonkaj Fashion Parade has been held at Art in the Park, one of the events in the Ord Valley Muster's nine-day festival held annually each May.
The curated program includes big concerts, station luncheons, comedy, Indigenous culture and arts and family-friendly festivities that kick off the East Kimberley's tourism season.