EDITOR’S LETTER
The September cover looks and feels like no other. That is because in such hard times we wanted to offer you hope. In April, led by Anna Wintour, all the editors of Vogue met virtually to discuss how we might work together to offer our readers a message of optimism. Therefore, hope is the word that appears on each of Vogue’s 26 September issues published around the world in 2020. For the masthead of our websites, the word Vogue has been replaced by Hope, with the name Vogue designed to sit in the letter ‘o’ of that word.
For Vogue Australia, looking to illustrate this word led us to the work of Betty Muffler. So for the first time in our 60-year history, we are publishing fine art on our cover. More than just fine art, it is Indigenous art, aptly titled Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country). We worked closely with the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) to commission Betty, who is an Aṉangu/Aboriginal Pitjantjatjara woman and spiritual healer. She is renowned as one of the best Ngangkari (spiritual healers) in the Lands. When the world went into lockdown, Betty painted to heal herself, her people, and her Country.
Betty knows about sadness and grief. She lost many family members when her Country at Watarru, near the border of South Australia and the Northern Territory, was chosen as the site for the joint Australian and British atomic tests carried out in the 1950s.
Read more about her extraordinary story, healing powers, and why she doesn’t have to travel to heal the spirit in ‘Magic touch’, (see page 100). Our heartfelt thanks to Betty for believing Vogue is a deserving home for her work, and message.
Another special thanks to director Nick Mitzevich and his talented team at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), who worked with Vogue to commission two works by Betty, both of which will be included in the international Hope portfolio (see page 162) to be published in every Vogue region, and also on this cover. The artwork has been hung and gifted to the NGA, and therefore to all Australians. Our gratitude for the guidance of curators Kelli Cole and Aidan Hartshorn, along with a very personal thanks to our former deputy editor Sophie Tedmanson, who joined the NGA this year.
It’s my wish that now more Australians will know Betty’s name and appreciate her gifts, talent and story. I also want this issue to offer you hope, too, as we work together to navigate and support one another through these difficult times.
Regular readers of The Australian will know Trent Dalton. His poignant, personal and inspiring words (turn to page 52) about what we’re facing today and the heroes rising within and among us, brought me to tears. Words can be so powerful. Art can give us strength. Our country can help us heal, as we can her.
Of course, fashion is also a language of sorts, reflecting how we see ourselves and want others to see us. And as in other times of historical crisis, many solutions to what we wear are being proposed. The fashion chain has been severely hit, with the entire industry from the designers, to producers, makers, distributors and promoters impacted. Frankly, where financial privilege has allowed, it has been a time of reflection and reassessment, as Pamela Golbin writes in ‘Trust the future’ (page 212).
Finally, to the team at Vogue for whom these have also been different times, too. Their commitment to the quality and content of this magazine, and all we produce on all of our channels, never ceases to impress and move me. Never more so than with the story commissioned and championed by Vogue’s deputy Jessica Montague about three remarkable fire-fighting Australian women – mums and rookie volunteers – whose commitment to their communities saw them battle some of the worst of the bushfire season this year. I know you will be equally astonished and inspired by them (page 222). I am also very proud that this great piece of Australian storytelling resulted in a donation by News Corp Australia and Vogue to the Bawley Point Rural Fire Service.
We hope to rebuild an even better and braver Australia, and we believe we will by harnessing the best of the Australian spirit together.