Meet Sage! A super talented and creative Ceramicist based in Boorloo (Perth). Born and raised in “this quiet, quaint place…” Sage is an up and coming artist with her own flare on contemporary pottery and tackling the small business world head on. She is artsy, has a brilliant outlook on modern art and is keen to share her love of life with you; through her ceramics!

Meet Justin Sider, local drag king and performing artist, musician and avid gardener. Propel is super excited to be working with him for two Youth Week WA KickstART Festival events, a drag workshop for young people, Drag Kingdom and KickstART’s first ever all ages drag performance, Drag Yourself Out! We sat down with Justin to chat about these two events, how he got into industry and all things drag in Perth.

A long time Propel Friend, Ria Maglinao is a Walyalup based creative and photographer who you’ve probably seen floating around at our events and programs. Ria started out as a Mosaic Intern back in 2019, and her career has since flourished. She most recently facilitated Beauty in the Mundane, a Mosaic photography workshop and has curated a line-up of local photographers for Youth Arts Mingle Night + Photography Exhibition. We chatted to Ria about what the event will look like, life as a freelancer and what the Youth Week WA 2021 theme ‘Our Path’ means to her.

Meet Anastasia Beasley, an artist, arts manager and long-time Propel friend who’s bringing Tea & Symphony and Postcards From Here to the 2021 Youth Week WA KickstART Festival. We sat down with Anastasia to talk about who she is and the events she’s hosting in April and what the 2021 Youth Week WA theme ‘Our Path’ means to her.

We met Ryan Ng a few months back when he dropped by our office to find out more about Perth’s local art community, and we were met by an eager and passionate visual artist hailing from Penang, Malaysia. We sat down with him to chat about how he got into and learned visual arts, what he’s learned from Chinese brush painting, how he admires the attitude and approach of his mentors, the Penang art scene and finding a particular visual arts style.

Zoë Sydney is an artist and physicist, you might recognise her from Snart Club – a science-art club that did a workshop at our 2019 event Moonboorli (Beyond) and her DIY clay making video we posted for Youth Week WA 2020. Most recently, Zoë’s painting Fifteen (2020), a portrait of her younger brother’s birthday was a finalist in The Lester Prize for Portraiture. We chatted to her about who she is and what she does, what science and art means to her, and her painting for The Lester Prize for Portraiture.

Tasha Faye is no stranger to Propel. The young freelance photographer has been friends with us over a number of years and we’ve had the privilege of seeing her career grow. We chatted to Tasha about her how she got into freelance photography as a career, being a woman freelancer, and the complexities of pay and portraiture copyright. She also offers her advice to any young creative wanting to make photography into a career.

Elsewhere/Rebecca is a sound artist, electronic music producer and performance maker based in Boorloo on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja. Elsewhere/Rebecca’s debut album With Me, We Walk sponsored by Drug Aware YCulture Metro, recently came out and featured a compilation of tracks and poems written in the past few years. We chatted to the multitalented artist about who she is and what she does, her debut album and the special way she launched it.

Meet Carrissa Wu, Beeliar Boodjar based local maker and small business owner of Jotterbook Flowers. Carrissa handcrafts delicate paper flower bouquets, accessories and decorations with you in mind. We sat down with Carrissa to talk about her upbringing in Singapore, how she got into making paper flowers and eventually turning it into a small business, and what she’s learned from the Black Lives Matter Movement on social media.

Part 2 continues from Part 1 of emerging Noongar and Greek actor Cezera Critti-Schnaars's interview. Continuing from chatting about her experience with Hecate, Cezera and Yoshika chat about the importance of representing normalcy, how Indigenous actors are often asked to act “more Black” and how Kadjin helps young and emerging Indigenous artists.

Cezera Critti-Schnaars is a young Noongar and Greek actor whose passion for acting started when she was very young. Back in February this year at Perth Festival, she starred in Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company’s production of Hecate, a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth performed entirely in Noongar. In Part 1 of Cezera’s interview, we chatted to her about her high school days, playing Fleance in Hecate, Indigenous identity and the significance of Noongar language.

Albertina Thabisani Ncube is a Zimbabwe-born, WA based creative that specialises in photography and videography. As a woman of colour, Albertina’s work focuses and uplifts people of melanin that was influenced by the lack of representation in Australia. In the lead up to her project ABANTU Exhibition presented by Drug Aware on Saturday 1 August, we chatted to Albertina about Black representation and the recent Black Lives Matter movement, the platform she’s creating towards cross-cultural exchange in ABANTU, suffering from an identity crisis and the importance of support and opportunity for young creatives of colour.

Brooke Woolcock (Collard) is a Whadjuk Ballardong woman of the Bibbulmin nation and a storyteller at heart. She tells stories through film as a writer/producer with a focus on telling stories of those underrepresented such as First Nations and LGBTQIA+. In the latest #YoungArtistsofWA interview, we chat to Brooke about her current projects, being a Member of Kadjin, what healing means to her and the change she hopes for in the WA arts community.

Trent-Jean Michel is a singer-songwriter/producer and musician who’s also part of the music collective Trent-Jean & The Lovely Bones who performed at the Lucky Cat Cinematheque event in January. We chat to him about his debut single Manchester By The Sea coming out May 1, doing music as a solo artist and as part of a group, and what he’s been up to during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patrick Gunasekera is a writer, visual artist, photographer, theatre maker, performance artist and a zealous advocate within conversations around race, colonialism, disability and queerness. In January, Patrick sat down with Yoshika over tea and cronuts to discuss the different facets of his identity that informs his work, Australia’s history of white colonialism and how it permeates into the arts industry, and how he can keep going as strong as he is to advocate for himself and his community.

Ali Marbeck is a local young illustrator from Perth with a love for drawing animals and girls in cozy calm settings. Her art business ali illustrations took off after she held her very first stall at last year’s KickstART Festival Market. We chat to her about ali illustrations, whether or not she believes in authenticity and originality, and her future plans.

Meet Monica Widjajana, Art Director at Bento Box Design Studio, a holistic marketing and design agency. Monica chats to Yoshika about how she started her career with Bento Box Design Studio, the need to showcase and give opportunities to emerging creatives, the necessary but trepidations of networking events and what it means to be a holistic marketing agency.

Part 2 of Marcus and David’s interview continues from Part 1 focusing on their joint project ECHO: Stories from East Africa. In Part 2, Marcus and David chats to Yoshika about what drives them to volunteer for small NGOs, the growing scrutiny of charities and the relationship between volunteering and art.

Marcus Wong and David Chidgzey collaborated on ECHO: Stories of East Africa, an exhibition that encompasses the trials and triumphs of East African communities through visual media, live music, speeches and stories. Part 1 covers the conception of the project, their volunteer experience and the question of whether who’s happier – someone who faces loneliness or a community who faces problems relating to basic needs.

Lien Nguyen is an emerging ceramicist who mastered her art in London but is now back in Perth to share her talents. When she’s not creating she’s whipping up amazing meals for her family and friends or tending her plant babies. Recently she sat down with Ria to talk about her new business, growing up as a creative and rediscovering her love for arts whilst thousands of miles away from home.