CONTRIBUTORS
KELLI COLE AND AIDAN HARTSHORN
For this issue, Vogue asked Warumungu/Luritja woman Kelli Cole, and Walgalu man of the Gurmal Nation, Aidan Hartshorn – both curators of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia – to explore the power of traditional healer Betty Muffler’s cover art in ‘Magic touch’, page 100, and ‘High hopes’, on page 162. “Though her story is threaded with obstacles, Betty is able to continue with her ability as a Ngangkari and find the strength to heal others from their illnesses,” they explain. “Betty’s story not only originates from a place of hope, but reminds us that in current times hope is all we have, and at times, is all we need.”
TRENT DALTON
“Words were the best thing we humans ever invented,” says Trent Dalton, the best-selling author of 2018’s Boy Swallows Universe. For this issue, Dalton wrote about hope and heroes for Vogue Voice – the same themes touched on in his new novel, All Our Shimmering Skies, out September 29. “It’s okay to break sometimes. It’s in the breaking that we do the building. That’s what my piece is about,” he says of his essay from page 52. When quizzed on why hope is so important, Dalton responds: “Without it, fear wins every time and fear don’t need no more trophies in the 2020 cabinet.”
NICHOLAS CHALMERS
Photographer Nicholas Chalmers forms part of a talented group of creative young Australians based in West Hollywood, which also happens to encompass Samara Weaving, who he captured in quarantine for ‘Resting easy’ from page 214. “We both take on each other’s ideas and she’s really willing to try anything I suggest,” Chalmers says of his shoot with Weaving, who he met through his former housemate Margot Robbie. “It was really laid-back and fun working with Sam, just like any other day hanging at her house,” he adds.
STEPHANIE WOOD
“The repercussions of last summer’s fires will be felt for generations,” says journalist and author Stephanie Wood, who travelled to Bawley Point on the New South Wales south coast to write about the heroism of local Rural Fire Service volunteers Lise Perciva, Luci Somers and Joy Townsend in ‘Forged in flames’, from page 222. “The scale of the fires seemed barely possible and I fear that Australians will never again approach summer in quite the same way,” she says. “I hope that my small contribution to the wider project of documenting what happened will increase people’s understanding of the enormous courage of Australian firefighters and the sacrifices they make.”