A glimmer is a moment of awe, sparking joy and evoking inner calm (the antonym of being triggered (i.e causing an intense negative emotion)). Since connecting with Brea Martin, it has been non-stop glimmers. I first connected with her on social media, and immediately admired her photography aesthetic, I quickly realised she was based here in Gympie and together we decided we should meet in real life.
We immediately made plans to collaborate, and very soon after we were viewing the fruits of our creative labour merging in an international magazine. Our first collaboration was shot on location at the Old Brisbane Museum. This was during the backstage frenzy of a Wearable Art collection I presented in association with Reverse Garbage Queensland, titled Future Fragile. Brea shot under challenging light conditions that night and still produced the goods.
Although it’s not unusual for Brea or myself to see our work published, it made us think about how hard we work on stunning projects that are often away from Gympie. This is due to the majority of our clients and our current opportunities luring us out of the region. We pledged to create work together at home, with a focus on our younger creative community, as emerging artists they are often being lured away from the region also. Our reasons grew the more we thought about the creative community and how they often have to travel to follow their passions.
Our region sometimes gets a bad rap for stale and pale attitudes that some people share. This can stifle and stunt, but also make it difficult for our young people to express their identities and ignite potential. So, with no money, no client, no brief and just a shared dream and vision, which was ‘to shine positive light on our hometown youth. With the hope to generate some hope and good news for the region’, we began our project.
We headed into Mary Street in April first with Imogen and Shae to test our concept. We had a car boot full of clothes from my fashion label Racy&Lucky, and we had cowboy style hats and boots. Our hope was that Playback and Dolly & Oats would perhaps let us in for a couple of looks, in between a few street scapes that we had in mind.
Months later at the AICM Brea joined in the backstage fun of Space Girls Illuminate during Pride Month celebrations and captured a stunning series of images with fresh faced models Justin and Arielle joining Shae and Imogen. We saw the dynamic as pretty magical and all the young people connected, voila the project was reignited! More clothing was created and styled and we headed back into Mary Street again with a clearer vision and new found purpose. We felt this was especially important since learning some hard truths about the plight of our young vulnerable people during Pride Month discussions.
We had high hopes to integrate young Hair and Make-Up professionals from the region but without funding or proof we’d get the international publication outcome it wasn’t possible. We look forward to growing this project with RADF and support from Gympie Regional Council next year, hopefully with a larger paid crew!!
Our first sample of this project has been published in Moevir Magazine last month, Malvie Magazine this month, both based in France. So we couldn’t be prouder of the outcomes for our lil crew with stars in their eyes, made here in our creative utopia…. Watch this space, Voila!
#creativesunite GO FORTH AND COLLABORATE!!
Cindy Vogels article was first published in Gympie Living Magazine in November 2023
https://gympieliving.com.au