Aussie graphic design company Canva have announced the launch of their new project in support of diversity, titled “Canva Represents”. Among the artists taking part in the launch campaign by the start-up is Aussie photographer Bobbi Lockyer.
Canva Represents (previously known as the Diverse Creator Fund) is a fund designed to promote diversity, through which all artists will be paid a commission fee for the work they provide. Their submissions will remain free on the platform for all users.
According to Canva, in the last year alone, the platform has seen a 129 percent increase in content that represents people with a disability, a 111 percent uplift in diverse sexuality content, a 194 percent uplift in more ethnically diverse content, and more than 17 billion diverse content publishes in total.
Through this new initiative, the company aims to inspire artists and creators to continue to produce authentic content that represents the diverse world we live in. With a global community of over 85 million people worldwide, Canva gives users a platform to share their creation on a scale bigger than ever before.
To celebrate the launch of “Canva Represents” and showcase the quality of content that will be available on the platform, 14 artists and photographers shared their stories and creations across the company’s digital channels. Among them is Western Australia-based photographer, Bobbi Lockyer.
The profile written by Canva describes Lockyer as a person “whose strong family connections to land, ocean, people and health are embedded in her work.”
Lockyer’s full bio reads as follows: “Bobbi is a Ngarluma, Karriyarra (from the Pilbara, Western Australia), Yawuru, Nyulnyul (from the Kimberley, Western Australia) woman, whose strong family connections to land, ocean, people and health are embedded in her work. Her connections to culture, family and friends have inspired her to use the natural environment to create her collection. Bobbi’s grandmother’s personal story of her Stolen Generations experience underlies her drive to capture the bond between mother and child as well as country.”
Lockyer herself pointed out: “My Canva collection represents connecting with country and looking after our land. As Indigenous peoples we have a responsibility to look after the land and the seas that are interconnected and part of our being.”
To see the images submitted by Lockyer, click here.
