Interview with Tina Waru from Australia

I come from a family of creatives and surrounded by songwriters to artists my entire life. My parents were teachers in our community and had all their children learning from a young age. It came naturally as a creative and I could see things that others couldn’t, all thanks to my parents and their creative knowledge.

We are a First Nations business dedicated to bringing First Nations global storytelling to life, in a way that fully immerses and engages the audience. For the past 12 years, we created and produced Independent First Nations fashion runways as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, Melbourne Fashion Week and international markets.

Our company creates and produces experiences and activates spaces for international governments, First Nations festivals and diverse community organisations.

Creativity means my mind can explore so many ideas and has the freedom to create these images and stories. Therefore, giving me the ability to crystalize and morph these ideas into something beautiful.

A creative idea is the first part of the process for a creative, it’s that moment when you get excited because you can see the idea start to take form. Creative design on other hand is the end result and the outcome of those decisions, it tells your story.

My creative and design process always begins with a prayer to my ancestors to help guide me. This centres me and allows me to understand the purpose and goal of a given project. In addition, research, analysis, collaboration and guidance from First Nations Elders are key components.

My favourite part is at the conclusion of our project, when we have completed our works and get to witness the joy, the tears of pride and hard work and dedication by all those involved. That’s when we know, we succeeded.

My style is somewhat profound, meaning that there are underlying messages in my work and there is always colour.

Absolutely it does. Growing up as a young Indigenous girl that tried her best to assimilate was hard but it gave me the strength and courage to determine my own story and my own ending. Having the privilege to learn and have your cultural traditions and values handed down are the very things that kept me grounded and helped me grow.

It means that all our hard work for the past 12 years were not in vain. It means that every single person’s sweat and tears involved in our projects can be acknowledged and recognized. It means that we can proudly say that it’s not just our families and communities’ bias opinion that our work was great but it is that of the WORLD!! Thank you!

This work was special because we challenged ourselves creatively with limited resources. Working with a large collective of First Nations designers and creatives from around the world gathered great synergies. It was even more crucial for us to make the storytelling, even more exceptional. Not only were our audience completely immersed in the experience, so were we! We decided to enter this project into the MUSE Creative Awards.

Limited resources. We find ourselves asking this question a lot, “If this is what we do with limited resources, just imagine what we could do with it!”

It has made the world of difference; we are broadening our scope of works now and receiving phone calls and invitations. Industry is looking at us differently and taking us more seriously. We are no longer considered as a community business but as a creative business and creative professionals.

All countries have a uniqueness and ours is in our landscapes, mountains, and rivers etc and the stories that come with it but most importantly in the history of its people.

More inclusion and diversity and more technology which has now created so much more possibilities in the creatives industries.

As a creative, we find many ways to tell a story. At first, I started small projects then it gradually grew and then it finally reached the level I had dreamed all those years ago. I would say to them “Don’t be afraid to dream BIG!”

One of the greatest resources that I would recommend is a Business or Industry Mentor. It is incredible what value you get from them, industry experience, strategic advice and incredible business support.

In high school I swapped classes with my identical twin sister on April Fool’s Day. She went to my art class and I went to her metal work class. I was stuck with a piece of artwork that my twin had painted pink and purple, and a phone call made to our parents after we yelled out at the end of the lesson “Happy April Fools”.

My Grandfather was my first inspiration. He was a cultural consultant, orator, actor, musician and a traditional healer. He led a life that was dedicated for his people, teaching them our language, culture and traditional practices. He took young people of the streets and took them back to our traditional homelands, transforming them and their lives. My father and mother went on to do the same things, so it was inevitable that I would follow in their footsteps.

There are many factors to our success, including our crew, our production team, artists and creatives. The key is in having the perseverance and resilience to get through any struggle and challenge and having the greatest determination to succeed not for you, but for your team.