Shaun Allen (Shal) is a proud Bundjalung multi-disciplinary artist, born and raised on Yugambeh country. In his teens, he discovered his love of creating and making through the underground music scene he was a part of. Through music Shal found tattooing, which eventually lead to painting. His connection to Country and self has since grown, and pushed his art outside of the constraints of traditional tattoo imagery, towards an expressive style driven by intuition and culture.
Shal works between a number of different mediums, including music and photography, focusing largely on themes of identity and connections.
Rona is a proud Kaytetye woman from Central Australia who works with high impact organisations to create systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and solutions.
Rona is the founder of Common Ground and brings 7 years
of professional experience working across First Nations organisations and not for profits. Rona was previously the Director of First Nations at YLab, a social enterprise that puts young people with diverse lived experiences at the centre of designing and developing innovative and impactful solutions
to complex social issues. Over her career, Rona has worked in policy at the Central Land Council, the Research Unit for Indigenous Languages at the University of Melbourne, Reconciliation Victoria, and the Foundation for Young Australians.In 2020, Rona was a finalist for the Victorian Young Achiever awards, was awarded a Westpac Social Change Fellowship. In 2019 Rona won a Diana Award and was named a 'Woman of the Future' by Women's Weekly.Through her work with First Nations communities across Australia, Rona aims to create future systems that centre First Nations people, knowledge and cultures.Rona currently resides in Mpartnwe on Arrernte Country.