Wearable Art Mandurah Winners

Oana Maria Rosca

'White Rainbow'

In these turbulent times, I think we should not be pessimistic about the future of the planet but contribute, including through fashion creations. Re-using materials is a form of recycling. That is what I did with this work. The chosen white colour brings optimism, as does the creative play with waste.

Shaun Vandenberg

'Aerdrie Faenya'

Aerdrie Faenya is the winged mother, Elven Lady of the Air and Wind. Known by the Faery folk as the goddess of weather and birds. Created from manipulated papers and glues to represent swirling winds and give an appearance of weightlessness, movement and consistency across all aspects of the design.

Alana Grant, Ruby Vale and Aysha Vale

'New Again, Full Circle'

The lecturer told the class “if you’re going to pollute through art you should say something through the art that’s worth it”... or something along those lines. This philosophy has stuck with me. I’m interested in circular economies. This focus on reusing over recycling seems like the form of “New Again”.

Stephanie Munro

'The Red Army'

From the forest floor they descend, a sea of red emerges, the migration has begun. Guided by the moon and tides, the crustaceans move in streams following familiar routes. The red crabs of Christmas Island come in their millions, the spawning begins, the cycle of life continues.

Gwendydd Fox

'Gilded Cage'

A beautiful bird sings mournfully from within a gilded cage it has forever become one with. The poem A Gilded Cage inspires this warning, of a hard-golden prison combined with soft, feathery forms behind a lock that will never open, a bird indistinguishable from its bars.

Renate Jamieson

'Bodies of Water'

Bodies of water invites the contemplation of the fragility of life and dependence on water for survival. It illustrates pathways for migration from snow-capped mountains down to vast oceans emphasising how all waterways are intricately linked. Adversity occurring in any waterway may precipitate the need for life forms to migrate or else die.

Cat Shepherd

'Crossing the Line'

Women use humour to address barriers in the workplace. Our Elizabethan jester has crossed the line, been placed in stocks and pummelled with tomatoes. The Elizabethan fool is a folk character that has persisted throughout time and is used to highlight the consequence of speaking truths in a humorous fashion.

Maddy Constable

'The Beauty of Ningaloo'

Inspired by the Ningaloo Reef, the breathtaking colours of the fish and the reef form the main components of the design. The skirt represents the reef, fish and depths of the ocean. The bodice and headdress display the beautiful blue skies with clouds and
birds circling the sky.

Zahara Dos Santos

"Love of Dolls"

Dolls are one the first tools I was given that helped me learn to love, nurture, and accept without judgment because they were all so different. They allowed me to imagine, roleplay, create, and open my mind to the wild and wonderful world of fashion and style. They have taught me to accept difference in a positive way.

Makayla Parr

'ATAR Stressball'

My wearable art explores the stress, anxiety, hope, and obsessive thoughts that come with high school. The dress design was influenced by the final year ball dresses. The garment was constructed with upcycled paper like curtain fabric that has hand written school notes on it. Past exam papers were used to create origami flowers.

Maria Dumitrescu & Emily Pedlow

'Metamorphosis & Aerial Migration'

The combination of The Metamorphosis and Aerial Migration demonstrate the cyclical journey from one Promised Land to another; bird migration is an endless spiral related to space and time, therefore evolution. Bird migration can also mean instability. We are currently living in instability and the endless spiral of life, finding a common element can create a peaceful and harmonious presence. We used this statement to show different elements of bird migration.

Philomena Hali & Monica Goodall

'Menos'

Dementia is an illness that takes away from the sufferer and their loved ones. It is a constant lessening of the sufferer’s world. Menos brings to the light the person behind the illness honouring their uniqueness and value. “I am still here” even though memories and abilities are fading.

Antoaneta Tica

'Icy Willow'

Since ancient times, the willow was associated with life-giving water. But as freezing rain, water is
destructive causing great damage to trees through the weight of ice that covers them. At the same time, it
gives them an unseen beauty. Once again, the willow, symbol of life and rebirth, includes both feelings of sadness and joy.

Lyn Blasgund

'X-Ray Vision'

Our fascination with what we can't see inside our bodies has inspired me to create a wearable art piece using
discarded X-rays.
The X-ray process with its silver deposits on synthetic sheets, allows the viewer to see the intricate shapes of bones and tissue creating an abstract collage.

Ardea Murphy

'Regeneration'

Humans are destroying our planet with plastic. My vision was to symbolise the demise of the grey plastic bag. Like the myth of the Phoenix that rebirths itself by fire every 500 years, hopefully by then mankind will have discovered a way to recycle our garbage landfills into useful energy.

Stephanie Munro

'Just Breathe'

My inspiration is anxiety. The reuse of respirators ironically used to allow one to breathe is juxtaposed against the theme of anxiety and one's inability to catch a breath. White eludes to outward perfection, the greys, insecurity and turmoil. The cage and headpiece show strength but hint at inner vulnerability.
Award presented by Onyx Hair & Beauty Crew

Meagan Howe

'Mourning Birds'

Flesh-footed Shearwater, migratory birds that breed in Australian waters.
Autopsied fledglings reveal stomachs full of plastic, mistakenly fed to them by their seafaring parents looking for squid. Too heavy to fly, they die on the pristine beaches of Lord Howe Island.
Mother Earth is mourning.

April Richards

'Gaudy Mask Dress'

Gaudy Masked Dress is inspired by James Ensor's tragi-comedic themed painting 'Skeletons Fighting
Over a Hanged Man' (1891). I have chosen to represent Ensor's menacing and garishly dressed figures with
a patchwork opulence of coloured ruffles and fabric covered bird masks.

Teddy McRitchie

"In Bloom"

"A woman is like a flower, if you care for her and love her enough, you'll have the honour of watching her bloom" Davis Dolezal. The correlation of women to flowers is reflected in my wearable art piece. 427 handmade paper leaves and 226 handmade paper flowers were used in this creation.
Award presented by Reading Cinemas Mandurah

Catherine Shepherd

'Voyage of the Ancestor'

Blue oceans crossed, fans symbolising sails and lanterns for stars, depict the journey of Chinese men to the 1890s WA gold rush. Broken china pieces for family and culture left behind, constructed from plastic car bumpers that China will no longer receive as landfill and hand-beaded pearls for riches.

Marie Wright and Taralee Freeman (NZ)

'Morte - An Australian Bunyip'

Morte is our interpretation of a great Aboriginal myth that has been passed from one culture to another.
The story behind the bunyip is a cautionary tale: be warned - be very careful around billabongs at night - you never know who might be lurking in the water...

Alana Grant and Ruby Vale

'Bowerbird's Blues'

The age of technology and consumerism has meant a shift in how we relate to ourselves as part of and in
the natural world. Adorning and surrounding ourselves with beauty has always been in our nature. Much like the Bowerbird, that now takes place with material harmful to our health.

Award presented by Powertex Australia

Jacqueline Gibson

'Suburban Splendour'

This creation celebrates the splendour of the suburban backyard where life flourishes around the flowering gum and the summer air is cool from the flutter of wings both big and small. The vibrant colour of our local flora and fauna is a delight to visitors. Our ordinary is exotic.

Nasrin Qasemi

'Coral'

My inspiration was coral, its vibrant colours and unique shapes. Global warming is causing these beautiful coral reefs to bleach and die. By creating this design, I want to give a silent message about global warming and its environmental impact on coral reefs. It is happening to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.