By National Indigenous Fashion Awards recognise international collaboration, ties to family and country
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By Olivana Lathouris
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Topic:Fashion
Seven artists have taken prizes home from the 2026 National Indigenous Fashion Awards. (ABC News: Olivana Lathouris)
In short:
First Nations artists and designers from across Australia have been recognised at this year’s National Indigenous Fashion Awards, hosted in Darwin.
The annual event spotlights art from a diverse range of cultural and language groups, working across different mediums and creative techniques.
Some of this year’s winners say their creative practice has helped pass on traditional knowledge, connect to culture and honour loved ones.
A unique partnership between a remote Northern Territory women’s centre and an art studio in India has beeen recognised at this year’s prestigious National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA).
The event is Australia’s largest annual showcase of First Nations fashion and celebrates the best Indigenous designers, artists and creatives from across the country.
This year’s National Indigenous Fashion Awards were presented at Darwin’s Deckchair Cinema. (ABC News: Olivana Lathouris)
This year’s ceremony took place in Darwin on Larrakia country, and was attended by locals and art enthusiasts from all over.
Presented by the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation as part of Indigenous Fashion Projects, the event follows last week’s sold-out Country to Couture runway celebration.
Cindy Rostron is pictured at Tharangini Studio, holding one of the wooden stamps used by the designers and modelling clothes crafted by her mother and aunty. (Supplied: Ziian Carey)
International collaboration recognised
A partnership between the Bábbarra Women’s Centre, in the remote community of Maningrida, and India’s Tharangini Studio won NIFA’s Community Collaboration award — a category that recognises strong, two-way relationships between First Nations communities and the textile and fashion industry.
Padmini Govind travelled from India to accept tonight’s award alongside Janet Marawarr, who represented Bábbarra Women’s Centre.
The collaboration between Bábbarra Women’s Centre and Tharangini Studio won an award at this year’s event. (Supplied: Anahita Ananth)
Their collaboration translated 78 Indigenous designs from 14 clans into woodblock stamps used for printing, sharing the ancient techniques that have been passed down over hundreds of years in Bangalore, also known as Bengaluru.
Travelling overseas to collaborate and then keeping in touch online, the two women-led organisations found what Govind described as “textile magic”.
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“It’s a craft-led dialogue because, when they visited us, English is our fourth language and English is also a third language for them,” she said.
“But we felt we really didn’t need a common spoken language to create all this textile magic.“
Govind said the lino printing tools used by Bábbarra artists tended to disintegrate over time, but woodblocks could last up to 100 years if they were made from the right materials.
Deborah Wurrkidj (left) and Rosanna Bonson wearing sari designs that were printed by hand at Tharangini Studio. (Supplied: Ziian Carey/Anahita Ananth)
“In way, it’s preserving stories of artists who are here and also who are no longer with us,” she said.
“We really feel blessed to be part of their cultural legacy.”
Padmini Govind and Janet Marawarr say the artistic practice helps pass on generations of cultural knowledge. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Govind said the art was about more than design.
“It’s a piece of their family history that’s been entrusted to us,”
she said.
Marawarr said the partnership would help First Nations clans pass that important cultural knowledge down to the next generation.
“[We can] teach our children for the future and [show] the old people, to see how they print the design,” she said.
Abigail Namundja holding the wooden stamp her late mother, J Wurrkidj, designed at the Bábbarra Women’s Centre. (Supplied: Ziian Carey)
Family history, culture highlighted
NIFA’s major Indigenous Fashion Designer award went to Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, from Quandamooka Country in south-east Queensland, who said she was “overwhelmed” by the win.
Her work features sustainably-sourced, handmade textiles including clothing, accessories and homewares.
“My work always starts with a story and I’m wearing what I make — that is hand-printed, naturally dyed, small batch, all connected to my mum and her stories, my grandmother’s written and oral history,” Cockatoo-Collins said.
Delvene Cockatoo-Collins says her works are connected to family stories, passed down over generations. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
She described the annual event as crucial in connecting artists from remote corners of the country, supporting them to share stories and knowledge.
“[Fashion] a visual way of sharing a story, and it can be read almost instantly on the runway,”
the designer said.
“When people look at that work, they can see that it’s from the island that belongs to our family line: my granny’s granny.”
Natural Tiwi Islands materials used in art
Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni, from the remote community of Milikapiti on the Tiwi Islands, took out the Traditional Adornment award for the unique baskets, armbands and headwear she crafted by hand.
The handmade bark basket, known on Tiwi Islands as a “tunga”, is used to carry objects such as food. (Supplied)
This category, which encourages the creation of traditional regalia, recognises designs that are made and worn to express culture.
Minnapinni said her work was crafted using materials of cultural significance to Tiwi people, including pandanus leaves and bird feathers.
She learned her skills from an older sister, who has now passed away, so the art prize is especially significant.
Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni crafted the wearable art, or “parmijini”, by hand. (Supplied)
Minnapinni said she hoped to share those skills with her younger family members.
“It’s been a long journey to make it this far,”
she said.
“I’m really proud of myself, but also I had to do this to honour my old people, and my late sister, and just pass down the traditional knowledge.”
The handmade designs were crafted with natural materials, including bark. (Supplied)
Here’s the full list of 2026 NIFA winners:
- Fashion Designer Award: Delvene Cockatoo-Collins (Goompi/Dunwich, QLD)
- Textile Design Award: Lillardia Briggs-Houston (North Albury, NSW)
- Business Achievement Award: Kimberley Aboriginal Fashion Textiles Art (Rubibi/Broome, WA)
- Traditional Adornment Award: Michelle Pulatuwayu Woody Minnapinni (Wulirankuwu, Milikapiti, Tiwi Islands, NT)
- Wearable Art Award: Lucy Simpson (Tempe, NSW)
- Cecilia Cubillo Young Achiever Award: Jake Powers (Walmanyjun/Cable Beach, Broome, WA)
- Community Collaboration: Bábbarra Women’s Centre x Tharangini Studio (Maningrida, Arnhem Land, NT)
Originally published on www.abc.net.au — View original