Indigenous Male Model

Saw an interview with Indigenous Australian male model Jake Gordon that again referenced these complex ideas around being an Indigenous Australian- although he has had the Indigenous Australian experience- bring brought up by his Indigenous Australian mother in Central NSW and works to raise awareness about the issues faced by young Indigenous Australians, who come in ‘all shapes, colours and sizes,’ as he says himself in an interview with The Morning Show, he faces scrutiny and some confusion in the modeling world about his Aboriginal-ness- due to his more fair (but still very tanned) skin tone- passed on by his European Australian father. Gordon is good-natured when discussing this, laughingly explaining how when Americans see his mop of thick hair, they exclaim “Oh no he is Aboriginal! His hair looks just like the kid from that movie Australia.”

I found this personally interesting as my father is Samoan, and I have faced this sort of ‘oh but why are you so white’ attitude- such as being asked if that’s actually my step father, ‘why is your dad black,’ etc.

But it goes to show these attitudes about what is stereotypically or ‘authentically’ ‘Indigenous’ are rampant not just in the art world but are also faced by young Indigenous Australians who identify themselves as Indigenous. Ingrained ideas about race and what defines people culturally needs to be seriously rethought.