Debra Beale is a multidisciplinary designer and artist whose work celebrates her connection to Gadigal Country, to her mother’s bloodlines from the Palawa and Yorta Yorta Nations, and to her father’s bloodlines from the Wonnarua and Gamilaraay Nations. She works across fashion, textiles, jewellery, painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, and furniture, to connect cultural knowledge with contemporary media.  

 Debra’s practice speaks to the ongoing impacts of the Stolen Generation, the mistreatment of Aboriginal people in police custody, and layers of intergenerational trauma. Her process is grounded in gathering sustainable and natural materials as a form of healing, and a way to make spiritual connections with her Country, Ancestors, and inner self.  

‘Sacred I’ 2005–23 is an ongoing collection comprising garments and wearable adornments made from eco-dyed recyclable fabrics and found natural fibres. It was recently featured in the 2023 Global Indigenous Runway. Debra considers the works to be living garments that have ongoing stories embedded in their materials. The garments hold messages from her Ancestors that transform cultural knowledge, pride, self-determination, and truth, and continue to collect stories as they are re-dyed and re-worn.