Welcome to the people's choice voting page for the RUSSH 100 Creative Showcase. In celebration of our 100th anniversary issue, our 20 finalists are in the running to be selected as our people’s choice winner by you – our readers! The winner will receive a full day at a photography studio in their home city, a profile piece on their work and practice on RUSSH.com, and coverage across our social channels.
Now the power is in your hands – cast your vote for your favourite entry below. Voting closes 11:59PM (AEST) 16 May.
Looking to find out more about the RUSSH 100 Creative Showcase? Here are all the details.
ALEXANDER BEATTIE
About
Alexander has recently graduated from the Bachelor of Fashion Design (Honours) at RMIT. Throughout this degree, Alexander has developed industry level skills including garment construction, and pattern making, with an emphasis on technology and material research. Programs such as CLO 3D, and Blender have aided Alexander in exploring fields outside of fashion, with skills that can be brought back into fashion design such as 3D printing. Materiality research such as dying, waxing, water proofing, liquid latex and other aging and distressing techniques have also been researched throughout this year. Graduating in 2021, throughout the Covid-19 crisis, Alexander has been left equipped with the skills and knowledge to adapt and persevere through serious limitations, sourcing and making clothing without the aid of university resources. This perseverance has been at the core of Alexander’s practice.
BIUNCA GUILFOYLE
About
Biunca Guilfoyle is an aspiring Image Maker, most at home amongst the abstract and eclectic. A recent Creative Direction & Styling graduate, Biunca seeks out any opportunity to impart her multidimensional style, bending rules to new conclusions. A passionate world builder, Biunca’s unique view of the world has been formed over a lifetime of travel spanning the globe.
CUB MOTION
About
Cub Motion is the alias of Sydney-based photographer, Phoebe Wolfe. She believes in the power of storytelling through images, and is interested in how political ideas can be translated to fiction. As a recent political science graduate, Phoebe is hoping to move to New York in the near future and continue exploring meaningful questions through photography and filmmaking.
GEORGIA BELL
About
I am an art director, photographer and stylist. Before moving to Melbourne to pursue my career in fashion photography, I trained as a special effects makeup artist in London.
I think of myself as a forward-thinking artist, and I love applying multi-faceted techniques in a creative approach through my photography, styling and art direction.
I try to give my work an underlying narratives that resonates with viewers to capture a sense of satire and playfulness in the imagery through the use of vibrant colour palettes and mixed media techniques.
GILLIAN KAYROOZ
About
Gillian Kayrooz is an emerging artist from Western Sydney whose practice reflects her personal experience and ongoing engagement with local communities. Kayrooz’s work is collaborative; she invites members of the community to contribute authentic impressions, in a bottom-up rather than top-down conception of history and place.
Kayrooz holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. In 2018 she was awarded the ‘Create NSW Young Creative Leaders Fellowship’ which led her to exhibit internationally in the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently she has completed residencies in Australia, China and Japan. In 2020 she presented her solo exhibition Argileh at Wedding Cake Rock at Firstdraft, and was a tenant at the Parramatta Artists’ Studios. In 2021, Kayrooz became a co-director on the board of Firstdraft, a member of Farifield’s PYT Ensemble and in 2022 she will present a solo exhibition at the Murray Art Museum in Albury.
JEREMY KEES ORR
About
I’m South Australian born and grew up in a beach town on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and I got into photography when my Dad passed me down his old film camera. I’d set up photoshoots with friends in my backyard or at the beach doing real stylised shoots. I love photographing and meeting new people, from models – to strangers out in public; capturing human nature, beautiful scenery and satiric underlying messages is what I’m drawn to. I moved to Melbourne to follow the industry and now shoot at a fashion portraiture studio in Fitzroy and freelance on the side.
JOKEW WUOL
About
My name is Jokew Wuol but my friends call me “Jok”. First thing you should know about is I am a massive fan of rap music, my favourite artist being Playboi Carti. Within fashion I idolise A$AP ROCKY and Kendall Jenner. Something that makes me happy is seeing everyone smile.
KRYSTAL TORRE
About
I am a Melbourne based photography student from RMIT however this project is a collaborative effort of RMIT students from different courses. Our goal is to use our skills to promote a more sustainable future in the fashion industry.
LAURA FRIEDLI
About
Hi! I’m Laura Friedli and I am a Swiss and French Photographer based in Paris.
I first wanted to be an illustrator but became more and more interested in photography and fashion so I moved to Paris to try my luck at fashion photography and I haven’t regretted it ever since!
MACAMI
About
Macami is a Brisbane-based creative director and photographer. Always featuring colours and contrast, her work is known as creative, fun, and avant-garde. Macami frequently works with local musicians, designers and artists, and is considered a valued member of the art-underground scene in Brisbane. Recently she has started running a photography exhibition, House of Iris, in hopes of providing a platform to feature other emerging photographers.
Zaide is a self-taught artist whose work is characterised by large swathes of vibrant oil paint applied with palette knives. Each piece is a reflection on human psychology and is brought to life by thickly worked, gestural painting techniques. The expressive style of the work represents rejection of pre-established narratives in the artist’s life.
MANUELA IODICE
About
I was born in Naples but moved to Milan to follow my career. I studied economics, but I like fashion, taking pictures and painting. And cats.
MICHELLE ANGELA PITIRIS
About
I’m a Melbourne based photographer, stylist and creative director who provides big Capricorn energy and sleeps with three whippets in my bed.
NATALIE KOVAL
About
After studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts at COFA UNSW, I pursued work in fashion and beauty photography, both in studio and on location. I like freelancing because it allows me to work with amazing teams on unique projects.
I’ve also had an interest in publishing – during lockdown I self-published a fine arts magazine called SOLLER. I’m proud to have published a second Volume in 2021, which featured some of Australia’s best photographers and artists.
OLIVIA CLAIRE SENIOR
QUYEN NGUYEN
About
Quyen Nguyen is currently completing her Honours in BA Fashion Design at RMIT University. Quyen is a developing womenswear garmentry practitioner from Melbourne, who focuses on a sentimental and curious acumen to fashion. She interrogates themes of identity, morale, politics, and dress through fashion artefacts; using nuanced references of her past experiences, through elements of form, layering and drape.
Quyen’s current project is based on an ongoing interrogation between feminine and masculine concepts, whilst engaging an interest in sustainable and technological driven strategies. Her previous experiences in production, design fabrications and sustainability has also amplified an engagement in explorative and multi-disciplinary systems of creation. Embodied by old and contemporary techniques, artistic expression, story-telling and cultural and historical fabrications, her research driven process lead to visual narratives revolving around dress embodiment and the fragility of the self, in the hopes that it will grow beyond fashion design.
THE LONG TRUONG
About
The Long Truong is born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and now based on unceded Gadigal Land. Long’s vision hopes to blend unconventionality and beauty together through his styling. Long is constantly inspired by the forever changing landscape of fashion and its exciting future where inclusion is embraced and different voices are heard.
VAHAB BANDARI
About
Vahab is a photographer from Melbourne. He has worked under great artists and evolved his style of photography over the years. Vahab is interested in innocence and action and encourages his subjects to live the moment in the frame. The shot will form naturally.
VALERIE MILLER
About
My Name is Valerie Miller and I’m a seamstress and fashion design student at RMIT with an interest in fashion history, and the intersection of glamour and absurdity. I make all my own clothes, often inspired by historical methods and aesthetics. My fashion photography work seeks to create an aesthetic that is beautiful in its own way. The piece submitted is beautiful but at the same time a little unnerving in its framing. The unsettling aesthetic is not in addition to the beauty, but an integral part of it. As a trans woman I don’t fit into the cis-centred conception of beauty, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be beautiful in my own right. This is why so much of my fashion photography work includes me – trans bodies are fashionable too.
ZACH PHAN
About
Zach Phan is a self-taught photographer, creative director and eager explorer. His body of work captures stories inspired by his personal dreams and his passion for an inclusive future. His work is punctuated by surrealism, composition play, and saturated colour.
ZOE KOSTOPOULOS
About
Zoe’s work aims to interrogate how the manipulation of an image extends its uses and functions within a commercial setting. In an atmosphere of client-based output, the transformation of an image gives her agency to produce work that has moved away from its original intended audience.