Magnolia Maymuru: From Yirrkala to the catwalk

Updated

A teenage model selected as the Northern Territory representative for the Miss World national finals hopes the opportunity will "break the cycle" of how broader Australia views traditional Indigenous life.

When a model manager spotted Yirrkala-born Maminydjama Maymuru getting cash out of a Darwin city ATM in 2014, it was almost a cliché opening from a plucked-from-obscurity supermodel success story.

"I stopped dead in my tracks. I think I scared the life out of her," Mehali Tsangaris, director of NT Fashion Week, said.

But Ms Maymuru knocked back Mr Tsangaris's on-the-spot offer to appear on a catwalk just a few weeks later.

"I had year 12 and I had to finish my work," Ms Maymuru said of finishing her studies in Darwin.

"Back home education is actually a big deal. Elders and women have done big things to get a bilingual education."

Ms Maymuru was born about 600 kilometres east of Darwin in Yirrkala, a coastal Arnhem Land community well-known for its Indigenous artwork, singers and traditional culture.

With a great-grandmother with artwork in the Louvre, a traditional owner grandfather heading up the local Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation, and a father from the Yothu Yindi-affiliated rock/reggae band East Journey, Ms Maymuru had grown up surrounded by creativity.

Yet the Mangalili woman said few from her community would really ever consider opportunities with the fashion industry.

"I don't read magazines or go onto E! News. I'm more of an outdoorsy girl. I like to hunt and go camping and go netting with my family," she said.

"I just thought after school that I'd get a job and settle down."

Then in 2015, Mr Tsangaris spotted Ms Maymuru again, this time in the fruit and vegetable section at a suburban Darwin supermarket.

"I thought, 'this time she's not getting away'," he said.

"First and foremost there was her height. That's obviously model material. She also has this elegance about her.

"It was a complete bonus that Magnolia is a traditional Indigenous girl, and I know that's something that hasn't been seen on the runways before.

"I'm quite surprised that nobody's worked with girls from community and girls as culturally sound as her. I think Australia needs to see girls like Magnolia."

For Ms Maymuru, accepting Mr Tsangaris's offer was about "trying something different", including a new model name, Magnolia, in the style of supermodels before her.

"I thought — I'm a woman just like everybody else. If people don't accept me just because I'm Indigenous or from community, it won't bother me. There's plenty other industries, people and companies to look to."

But her first big modelling gig in October for NT Fashion Week was still overwhelming.

"I was very, very nervous," she said.

"I thought: 'What if I fall over or trip? I'll be on the news.' But I threw [those thoughts] away and decided to get through with it."

Both emerging model and model manager described the past six months as a working partnership, culminating in Mr Tsangaris putting forward Ms Maymuru as the Territory's first representative for the Miss World national finals this year.

"The modelling world can be very, very harsh and create negative body images but Magnolia's path is to use it as a platform," Mr Tsangaris said.

This year Miss World's management has ditched the swimsuit round, beefed up its alignment with charity and community work, and features contestants from varied backgrounds.

"I would think Miss World would benefit from the media attention [of selecting Magnolia], but it's well deserved because she's much more than a pretty face," Mr Tsangaris said.

"It's to educate Australians that they make them beautiful out in community too, and they make them with a brain and with a purpose to change."

Ms Maymuru also hoped her participation in the pageant — something traditionally associated with bikinis, crowns and proclamations of world peace — would continue to boost her career prospects and show Australia a different side to young Indigenous women.

"So many people out in community have achieved so much and it's never in the news," she said.

On Wednesday night Ms Maymuru appeared for the first time as the NT's Miss World representative at a charity event at Parliament House, where she spoke to the crowd about her work as a sports and recreation officer in Arnhem Land and dwarfed the local mayor with her 5-foot-10 frame.

"I want people to know that it took a lot for me to come out of my shell and do this," she said.

"I wanted to break the cycle of how people see life back in community."

More broadly across Australia, Indigenous modelling competitions are growing in prominence and readers of Vogue are very familiar with the face of Samantha Harris.

"I hope it gives [the industry] a push to look at more women up in Arnhem Land. I hope it gives them an urge to come up and actually check people out rather than thinking, 'There's one and that's enough'," Ms Maymuru said.

Mr Tsangaris disagreed that the fashion industry was dominated with a Caucasian beauty norm and cited the prominence of models Iman and Naomi Campbell many decades ago, although he agreed times were changing in the Australian industry.

"I think it's a watch-this-space sort of thing. I think Magnolia is the girl that could spark a revolution," he said.

His advice to other model scouts was to be respectful about Indigenous cultures and considerations — for instance, Ms Maymuru does not book photoshoots that show her legs — and to simply give people a chance.

Ms Maymuru said she hoped her story was an example "of one person saying something", although she would be happy if the experience only lasted a few years.

"I'm happy to go back home and get into normal life. I'd trade anything to just have a Saturday and Sunday somewhere fishing and camping," she said.

"Yirrkala is irreplaceable. It's home."

Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, fashion, people, human-interest, darwin-0800

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