9 July 2018

Forty faces of the future will feature on buildings around Geelong as part of local NAIDOC Week celebrations.

As part of the Street Face initiative, portraits of Aboriginal women — nominated by peers or elders from the Koorie Youth Group and photographed by Joshua Maxwell de Hoog — will be displayed across 18 prominent buildings.

One of those ‘faces of the future’ is Mietta Scarlett, Year 12 student at Clonard College, Geelong (see photo). Mietta is one of the school’s FIRE Carrier Leaders and has been part of the young Aboriginal dance troupe, the Deadly Dancers.

The public art project produced by City of Greater Geelong’s Youth Development Unit was created in keeping with this year’s NAIDOC Week theme ‘Because of her, we can’.

The annual event aims to celebrate the history, culture, contribution and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Installation of the photographs on landmarks such as City Hall, the Carousel, Geelong Performing Arts Centre and Geelong Hospital will remain until mid-August.

A full list of ‘Street Face’ locations can be found on the Events Geelong website. For more information about NAIDOC Week (July 8–15), visit www.naidoc.org.au.

This article was originally published in the Geelong Advertiser on 26 June 2018.