Maddy Hodges is a young indigenous artist, fashion designer and business owner from Nyngan.

She is a proud Ngiyampaa/Wangaaypuwan and Wiradjuri woman and has recently launched her new clothing designs.

Maddy has been learning and practicing her culture from a very young age and is passionate about teaching and sharing her culture with her community.  These days her artistic talents are taking her places she could hardly have dreamed of.

“I've been painting Cultural artwork since the age of 11, my mum taught me, and we would paint together. At this age I also entered my pieces into the local gallery for NAIDOC competitions, where people would express interest in purchasing my pieces so I guess selling my artwork started from here and I would do commissions within the community," she said.

"It wasn't until 2018 that I established Kapata Dreaming, this enabled me to create a platform online to sell my work initially but over the years my business has developed into a whole range of Cultural workshops and practices,” said Maddy 

Now 28, Maddy has been making her mark far beyond her local area.

On Monday 19 June the Brewarrina Aboriginal Medical Service hosted a workshop for the community where Maddy was teaching weaving.

“The workshop in Brewarrina was great! I think with doing workshops regularly in community, it also creates a safe space for mob to get together and have a yarn, like our old people would have done," said Maddy.

"Especially with weaving, this was very significant to women in our Culture so it's important we continue this practice and share with our youth and community.” 

BELOW: Belinda Boney learning how to weave at Maddy's Brewarrina workshop.

Not only is Maddy an artist, dancer, and weaver, she is now stepping into the fashion world.

She showcased one of her designs at the Baiami’s Ngunnhu Festival this year where she modeled with some of the women from Brewarrina during the fashion show on the Family and Culture Day.

The fashion parade was organised by Signal Creative after their workshops in the surrounding communities where they created and designed their own garments. 

“I strive to share the importance and beauty of our Culture to the wider community, indigenous or non-indigenous," said maddy. "We ALL have an obligation to care for Country so it can provide for us, everyone has something to learn from our old ways and practices.”  

ABOVE: Maddy showcasing her design with Rista Ulera modeling. 

 This young woman is definitely going places and has a few projects happening in the near future - one of those is the Country to Couture fashion show that is being held in Darwin. 

“I’m heading up to Darwin in August to showcase Yapa Mali for Country to Couture, this is a fashion show for First Nations designers from across Australia," said Maddy.

"I've been working on the whole collection since the start of the year, which will feature clothing and traditional Cultural adornment pieces with materials collected from Country. I'm really excited to represent the Ngiyampaa community and share our unique styles and practices.”