Karri-Djarrk-Durrkmirri (We-Together-Work)

Bábbarra Women’s Centre is an Australian Indigenous textile Art Centre with a proud history of positive social impact. We are part of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, which was set up by Maningrida community leaders in 1974 to support people to live on their Indigenous homelands. Bábbarra Designs is our main enterprise. We have a textile workshop specialising in the production of hand-printed fabric design using linocut block prints and screen prints. We are one of only a few Indigenous textile-producing art centres in Australia that design, print and sew onsite, in community.

Tharangini is a heritage wood-block printing studio dedicated to producing sustainable textiles with a deep commitment to craftsmanship, equality, and environmental responsibility. Led by skilled artisans, Tharangini emphasizes fair wages, private medical insurance, and pandemic support for its team. Established by women, Tharangini is led by Tharangini Govind, daughter of the founder, Lakshmi, who studied art in Delhi in the 1960’s. The studio champions environmental awareness through local textile sourcing, minimal waste practices, and the use of organic, GOTS-certified dyes. Workshops at Tharangini offer the training of traditional techniques and inspire textile enthusiasts, designers, and lovers of culture from around the globe.

Several hundred years ago, the Lambadi tribals migrated from North Western India to down south for a living. They were a nomadic tribe but ended in settling down in Madhaya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu. Sittilingi Valley is the second southern most settlement of Lambadis in India. We, the women of the community had a rich tradition of hand embroidery which our ancestors did on the clothing and other day to day articles. In course of time, when we stopped wearing the traditional dress, the craft was lost for more than 2 generations. Since 2006, with the facilitation of Tribal Health Initiative we have revived the craft.

From Neela & Gammi who had learned the craft from their grandmothers, but had no need to practice it, a few of us learned it. And thus was formed the PORGAI Artisans Association. “Porgai” in lambadi dialect means “Pride”.

We are now a registered society of 60 lambadi women.

Anshu Arora is a multidisciplinary design practitioner. She moonlights between fashion, space design and crafts.

She has worked with artisan groups and organisations filling design gaps based on their ask. Some of these are commissioned projects, others have become mutually enriching relationships. All of them inform her process and practice. For Anshu, design is a an act of finding solutions together. She believes that empathetic design can contribute to creating new ways of seeing the familiar.

Working closely with artisans, understanding techniques, artisanal production systems, their limitations, strengths and collaboratively finding solutions is deeply satisfying for Anshu. The act of re-presenting this vast and endless body of work is critical to building true appreciation towards the poetics that inform the processes and products, together with stories of people who make them.

Pink Pepper is a collaborative multidisciplinary design studio that works across Visual Communication Design, Product Design and Space Design. Good Design is at the heart of all that is meaningful and therefore memorable. Pink Pepper believes in a conceptual approach that is uncomplicated and minimal, always looking for a balance between form and function.

Pink Pepper’s strength lies in constantly pushing the boundaries between various visual mediums, materials and practices that fuel the multidisciplinary approach to produce products and user experiences that engage and excite. Pink Pepper’s work covers a wide range of clients, from multinational companies, luxury brands to start ups and artisans.

Jessica Stalenberg is a multidisciplinary project coordinator with expertise in printmaking, textile design, international development and Indigenous Art Centre management. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sydney University, a Diploma in Textile Design, and is pursuing an MBA in Arts and Cultural Management. From 2020 to 2024, Jessica managed the successful Bábbarra Women’s Centre, where she led an operational reset and secured successful licensing collaborations for artists, including a unique partnership with the ethical Australian millinery company Helen Kaminski. Recently, she spearheaded an intercultural project between textile artists from India and West Arnhem Land, supported by the Australian Government’s Centre for Australia–India Relations.

Born and brought up in New Delhi, India, Naina Sen is a Walkley and AACTA nominated filmmaker and video artist. Based on the lands of the Larrakia People in Darwin, Australia, Naina has collaborated extensively with artists from across remote communities in North-East and North- West  Arnhem Land and the Central Desert in the Northern Territory for the last 12 years.

A practice built on long term cross- cultural and inter-cultural collaboration and storytelling, Naina works across documentary, installation and live projection, using image making to explore gender, cultural identity, equity, place and memory, privileging First Nations and South Asian and South East Asian diasporic narratives.

Anahita Ananth is a visual storyteller and media professional, blending photography, videography, and content strategy. She is passionate about handcrafted textiles and the endless possibilities that hand block printing presents.

She collaborates closely with the artisan community at Tharangini Studio, documenting the delicate processes that go into making beautiful textiles. Obsessed with exploring the untold stories woven in fabric and craft, her work captures the dialogue between traditional technique and contemporary practice. She’s passionate about documenting not just the art of textile creation, but the human stories. When she’s not behind the camera, she’s getting her hands full of colour at Tharangini, hunting for new print combinations and ways to showcase them.