Emily Badsville is a fashion designer, craft wizard and body modification/suspension performer. Her store, Badsville, used to be on Enmore Road and had the most amazing interior of vivid green and purple, which closely matched her external aesthetic at the time. I actually think that glimpsing Emily on the street once may have been when I first started to dream up this portrait series.
Ollie Henderson is something of a muse for this project. Ollie is an activist, model, radio producer, journalist, law student and founder of the radical fashion brand House of Riot. She has not only featured in many shoots for this project but also conducted an interview conversation piece with me for the book. Ollie defines punk as ‘a combination of idiotic hedonism and collective resistance’. I predict that one day we will see this woman running for prime minister, and what a great day that will be!Emma Price was my first art school friend, so we go back more than 20 years. I dropped out but I’m so happy she stayed on, as she wrote the most incredible introductory essay for this book. Emma is an artist, curator, publican and creative enabler. She was also a member of the infamous millennial performance collective The Kingpins, and she’s the co-founder of The Bearded Tit – Sydney’s clubhouse for social misfits and artisanal outcasts.Nai Palm fronts the band Hiatus Kaiyote and also has an amazing solo musical practice. We did this portrait with the very last light on a balmy, beautiful Melbourne evening. This is her bird, Charlie, who goes everywhere with her, often napping on her shoulder. Not only is she a genius musician and singer, she’s a complete sweetheart and one of the most bohemian punks I have ever met.
