About

The Project

This project, Ad(dressing) Indigeneity: identity, healing, and social change through clothing, fashion, and style, aims to unpack the stories behind First Nations fashion, art, and dress.

By exploring the fashion and dress of First Nations people, we can engage in truth-telling and gain a deeper understanding of our shared histories.

Fashion can assist in our well-being and contribute to social change. This research will focus on urban areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ways of dressing in these environments.

This project will gather stories and research through interviews, visual materials, and historical texts. The project will then contribute the stories and findings to academic texts, blogs and articles, social media channels, presentations, and exhibitions.

Managed by Aboriginal (Kokatha/Wirangu) researcher Dr Treena Clark and funded by the University of Technology Sydney under the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellowship.

Acknowledgements

As Indigenous-led research, this project aims to follow cultural practices and ways of reciprocity. I would like to thank the following groups and individuals for their incredible knowledges, guidance, and support.

Project advisory group of several First Nations people and allies: The members live in (or near) Sydney/Warrane, Melbourne/Naarm, and Adelaide/Tarntanya and work across universities, communications, fashion, and health. They help support the development of the topic and provide advice around the research.

Traditional Owners and Councils: From regions in Sydney/Warrane, Melbourne/Naarm, and Adelaide/Tarntanya, Traditional Owners and Councils support and advise on approvals and collaborations.

Knowledge Holders/research participants: The First Nations Knowledge Holders/research participants contribute to the research through storytelling and consent.

Elders and community members: These individuals contribute valuable mentoring sessions and yarns to the project.