Community encouraged to design NAIDOC Week apparel

THE Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative is seeking submissions from local artists for consideration for special 2023 NAIDOC Week Wathaurong branded T-shirts.

This month, the group opened expressions of interest for the initiative, with entries open to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artists who live or have lived on Wathaurong Country, and have a connection to the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.

According to a co-operative spokesperson, the artwork should be based around this year’s theme of ‘For Our Elders’.

“This will be the first time since pre-COVID that Wathaurong has commissioned a dedicated artwork piece for our own NAIDOC Week T-shirt.

“Other organisations such as the Victorian NAIDOC Committee have commissioned their own t-shirts each year. This year, we are looking to have our own Wathaurong-branded NAIDOC T-shirt that our community can connect with and be proud to wear during our NAIDOC Week celebrations.

“It is hoped that in commissioning a local artist to design a Wathaurong NAIDOC T-shirt, we can sell the T-shirts to the general public and raise additional revenue to go towards our NAIDOC Week celebrations, such as our Flag Raising event and our NAIDOC Ball.”

The successful artist will be paid $500 for the use of their artwork and will be promoted and acknowledged for their time and prowess.

Any community member who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is welcome to submit a piece of art for consideration.

Submissions can be done digitally via email to [email protected], or by dropping a physical artworks to Wathaurong’s Geelong West office, located at 10-12 Albert Street, attention to Beth Davis.

Submissions should include details of the artist’s name, artist’s mob, artwork name, and artwork story.

The closing date for submissions will be 11.59pm on May 12.