Modelling wasn’t the expected career path for a self-confessed
“community girl” like Perina Drummond. The 31-year-old founder
of Jira Models – a modelling and talent agency for Indigenous
faces – hails from the Torres Strait, a place far removed from the
fashion industry hubbub in Australia’s major cities. But growing up
in a creative household, among family who sewed everything from
curtains to dresses, Perina decided early on that she’d pursue a
career in fashion. She moved to Brisbane to attend a boarding school
at age 12. “Job prospects back home would be very low after school,”
she explains. “So I had to make the hard choice to move away.”
A few years on, she signed to a Brisbane modelling agency, landing
sporadic modelling gigs and winding up a state finalist in Miss
Universe Australia. But Perina found herself wanting more. So,
in 2014, she took the plunge and moved to Melbourne to begin a
course in fashion styling. A chance meeting with a prominent stylist
while volunteering at a fashion festival launched Perina into styling-
assistant work. Quickly, she began questioning why there were so
few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander models.
“I started Jira Models purely out of selfishness, to work with more
Indigenous faces,” she says. “There was this obvious gap. I thought,
‘How can I influence the industry to be more connected with the
Indigenous community?’” She did some ground work, asking
major agencies why they had almost no Indigenous talent on theirbooks and, conversely, turning to connections in her community to
investigate their attitudes towards modelling.
“What kept coming up is the cultural difference,” Perina says. “For
example, there are some women who are not allowed to show skin
from the waist down due to their cultural upbringing. This happened
recently on a bikini shoot and I had to jump in – it’s a learning curve
for the fashion industry.” She also found that mainstream agencies
struggled to hold on to Indigenous talent, perhaps due to a lack of
support and understanding for models who had to transition from life
in remote areas to fast-paced big cities.
Jira’s strength is that it’s completely Indigenous owned and operated.
Models find comfort in Perina’s ability to straddle both worlds – as
such, they call on her to answer questions they feel too intimidated
to ask a non-Indigenous person. Fashion industry workers are also
thankful to have a cultural go-between. “It’s not that I want to take
over the entire industry with Jira,” Perina says. “I want to work
with mainstream agencies, too. But we first need a platform for
Indigenous talent to develop and take on modelling as a career,
rather than a side job.”
Perina finds herself scouting models wherever she goes. She
discovered her first while on a tram; recently held castings across
regional Victoria; and travels to the Kimberley and back home to
the Torres Strait on a regular basis. “Our community is great with
word-of-mouth, so there’s always somebody who knows someone
else,” she says. Pretty faces aren’t the be-all and end-all for Perina,
though. Equally important is a person’s connection to culture. “I’m
looking for someone who is proud of who they are – a leader who
can drive change in the community,” she says. “Being from the
Torres Strait, I know how hard it can be to find a role model.”
She’s glad she’s stuck with Jira, despite wanting to throw in the
towel many times since launching two years ago. Like many who
work in creative industries, she’s still holding down two part-time
jobs just to pay the bills. But, it’s all starting to pay off. “There’s been
a change globally towards inclusion,” Perina says. “The industry is
excited that it’s finally happening.”home-grown beauty
PERINA DRUMMOND LAUNCHED A
MODELLING AGENCY FOR ABORIGINAL
AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS.Wor d s Emma Do
PhotoMia Mala McDonaldmy project