Artist Spotlight: Nadurna
Afterpay’s Australian Fashion Week will see First Nations designers being brought to the forefront with the return of Indigenous Fashion Projects and First Nations Fashion + Design (FNFD), who will be opening the event with a Welcome to Country ceremony and closing fashion week with a sold-out show. To further celebrate and support our Indigenous fashion and art community, Afterpay commissioned artist and designer Ryhia Dank to create a bespoke piece for AAFW.
Ryhia is a contemporary Aboriginal artist who grew up in a remote community off the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory. Following in the footsteps of her Gudanji/Wakaja ancestors, who told stories through pattern and design, Ryhia refers to her art as “storywork”. Nadurna, meaning woman in her language, relates to the origin story of Gudanji when three women came from the ocean near Ngukurr, travelling a long way to create the place of her family, the hills and fresh water Country.
Through her commissioned piece for AAFW, Ryhia interweaves her art of storytelling using bold colours and powerful symbols. The circle in the heart of the artwork represents the event and the gathering of people in a central location, while the hill-shaped arches represent grounding, wisdom and strength.
In the bottom right corner, the upside-down ‘U’s represent people travelling far and wide, while the Us above represents the people of Afterpay. Surrounding those are smaller dots, representing all the small businesses that Afterpay supports, with the water in the top right corner symbolising its life-giving abilities and the nearby wildflowers representing resilience in harsh climates. The wiggles show all the different directions designers and artists take to create their pieces. The baskets, coolamons and digging sticks are there to resemble the tools and accessories of the event, while the Bondi mint colours that weave through the painting represent Afterpay itself.
Experience AAFW wherever you are.
