Elvies

Happy 51st Papua New Guinea Independence!

Never severed, always rooted and connected because blood is thicker than water and stronger than coffee.

My PNG identity is somthing I’m incredibly proud of, it’s my strength, my love and my passion.

Our people are amazing, our tribes, cultures, rituals, land, sea, rivers, mountains…. Our country is enchanting, full of endless opportunity and as someone once said, a place of the unexpected!

Love to my family back home, the families we have created and connected with here and to my ancestors for their wisdom and tenacity.

Meri Milne Bay, PNG.

🇵🇬❤️

My favourite Afro this year goes to Koteka Wenda

She’s an inspirational young woman who’s gentle but driven activism for her people of West Papua will always remind me that a soft voice, intelligence, humility and a respectful attitude will always have a lasting impact on all who have the honour of witnessing and hearing it. They will be moved by it.

I loved this shoot so much and Koteka’s Afro reminded me of the beauty of Melanesia, the beauty of black Pacific Islanders and the incredible lineage, connection and power that comes with this marker of identity, and for so many, it is also a marker of our resilience. A sign that we are still here and we will thrive.

Natural hair, strong roots and the tight coils that we share with our ancestry and our bloodlines are like strands of rope that can never be severed, layer upon layer, loving our hair is loving who we come from, who we are and who will be coming after us.

It was a dream to have you there that day, your kindness, humour and curiosity is just beautiful lewa.

Thank you for your courage and dedication.

Happy World Afro Day and Free West Papua ❤️🤍💙

This Wednesday night a group of bubbly, sensitive, intelligent, powerful and passionate Melanesian women will be sharing stories, our way.

We will also be celebrating Papua New Guinea Independence, supporting West Papuan Youth and offering you a sacred hour of Tok Stori.

I’ll be reading excerpts from my first ever poetry zine - The Variety, Vol. 1, also available for purchase at this Fridays Emerging Writers' Festival LitFair.

Bungim mipela / come and meet us 🌺💕

You may have followed my old Instagram account - ? It’s named something different now and before I began my Elvies journey I was oversharing there.

The account was disabled and was devastated, thought I’d lost all my writing!!

I’ve written for many reasons and have always felt so healed by it. I would write by using my life and paintings, family, places, devastation and joy, lovers and yearning, womb-an hood and other experiences to prompt my rhymes and stories. I wrote to disrupt. I wrote to decolonise. I wrote and still wrote to exist.

Next week I’ll be sharing a poetry Zine that I’m still yet to put together, eek, at the Emerging Writers' Festival Closing Night Litfair. A small publication of my inner world will be available to you, lovingly from me.

I hope that if you pick one up, it makes you feel wrapped in banana leaves and soaked in coconut cream, boiled in a clay pot and devoured, satisfying a hunger in you, or a craving so dormant that you forgot you enjoyed the flavour. I don’t know, come and rub my back and tell me everything will be okay? Or just smile with me about how these thoughts and memories have now become the art that has made me who I am.

Where : Abbotsford Convent
When : 18th September, 5.30 - 9pm.

Thank you again to the Emerging Writers Festival Team for putting me on.

✍🏽😭😅😍❤️🫶🏽🌺💕🪮✊🏾

Life is but a dream, it’s what you make it. ❤️🫶🏽🌺

Hair is never, just hair.

Hair shapes our identities, affects our self confidence and is a tangible fibre that connects us to family, ancestry and each other.

In less than ten days I’ll be having a conversation with Anasina Gray-Barberio MP at an event called “Hair is Political” and these are some of the questions that we are curious about.

Share your stories and answers below and I’ll be sharing mine along side The Embassy Studios during our panel discussions on the 29th of August, register via link in bio.

Your hair story matters and it’s the most important part of the work that we do as natural hair stylists and curly hair care providers. Its important.

Jozif and I will be doing some hair cuts on the day also! If you’d like a Dry Cut, come with your curls set and I can shape them for you! Jozif will be on his barbering tools and a Braider is soon to be announced!

Come and get yourself the most authentic and original black hair tool, a wooden or bamboo afro comb from me too!

Egualau kaua / thank you,

Ella ❤️🪮➿🌺

Aubiga Elvies Texture community,

I know that many of you have enjoyed your own private viewing of my artwork when you visit my studio, but for those who have not yet witnessed my artwork, two of my pieces have been chosen by the incredible curator for this very special exhibition.

What an honour to share my art alongside these amazing Pacifika artists!

This is also a lesson for anyone who needs to hear it, don’t stop doing what you love, what heals you, and continue to show up for yourself when no one is watching because people will resonate with your storytelling one day and your voice when you least expect it.

I have always made art for myself. It’s been a way for me to nurture my inner child, to have a constant connection with my spiritual and emotional self, and a way to speak out my fears, my hurt, my memories, my love and my hope. My paintings are dreams, manifestations, moments in time, the future, an extension of me and a message to my daughter. My paintings are for her.

We are many things, many expressions and we are many versions of ourselves, every one valid, every one visionary.

Egualau kaua,

Ella