Bordered by Guinea to the north and Liberia to the east, the fashions of Sierra Leone are the inspiration for the latest Bega Valley Regional Art Gallery exhibition.
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The walls of the gallery are adorned with the photographs of Australian aid worker and blogger Jo Dunlop who moved to the West African nation of six million people in 2011 to work on a UNICEF maternal health program.
While in Freetown Ms Dunlop began a blog titled Freetown Fashpack detailing her experience living and working in the nation’s capital city.
“I worked in an office and I really started to really notice the clothes on Africana Friday, which is like casual Friday for us,” the 41-year-old said.
“The more time I spent walking around the streets I could see how the style and flare was everywhere.”
“They are very vibrant, charismatic people.”
Church was also a place where she noticed Sierra Leoneans would dress to express, so she began visiting on Sundays to capture the colour and expression of the moment.
“The whole approach to fashion there is different to here, there’s no snobbery or pressure to follow trends,” Ms Dunlop said.
“Everyone respects you for your choices.”
Excerpts from Ms Dunlop’s blog accompany each large, almost life size digital print, with descriptions of each model providing the context necessary to fully experience each vibrantly gripping image.
The fashions of Freetown have a traditional West African flair, and capture inspirations from diverse Western pop themes such as Lady Gaga and the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper.
One of the portraits is of Freetown tailor and designer Ibrahim Charlo Bah donning his unique “Rapel style” outfit.
Mr Bah describes the experience of the 2014/15 West African Ebola virus outbreak.
“Ebola is breaking business and slowing down our country,” he said.
“It is a war for us, we are not hearing gun shots but we are seeing dead bodies.”
Ms Dunlop was in the nation during the outbreak and began to use her blog as a platform to discuss it.
“People were wearing medical scrubs with Africana print,” she said.
“They needed to make scrubs during that time and the cheapest material was the Africana print.
She said despite the horrors the virus brought, Sierra Leoneans remained positive throughout.
“It was a symbol of hope through a dark time,” she said.
“I remember talking to expats who said at the time if it was anywhere else it would be far more depressing.”
The blog became so popular, the ABC commissioned a six-part television series, Fashpack: Freetown, based on Ms Dunlop’s work.
Gallery curator Iain Dawson has had a close relationship with Ms Dunlop for many years and said the exhibition is all about bringing her blog to life.
“When I first saw her blog I thought it would be an amazing show,” he said.
“The history of Freetown is very interesting as it became home for freed slaves from America who were resettled in London.”
He said Ms Dunlop’s interest in fashion made it the perfect place for her to absorb herself creatively.
“The people of Sierra Leone have a willingness to appropriate culture as well as express their own,” he said.
Fashpack: Freetown has also been accepted into the 24th Raindance Film Festival in London this September.