Meet the youngest winner of Adelaide Fringe Festival’s poster competition

Soon you will see Mali Isabel’s artwork just about everywhere you look.

The Kokatha Arabana woman is, at 22, the youngest and only ever Indigenous winner of the Adelaide Fringe Festival poster competition.

“It’s a major honour and the title is well overdue — I’m happy to carry it,” she said.

With a nudge from her manager, Braidee Lee, Isabel decided to enter the competition.

“It was the right time in my career to go for something like this,” she said.

“I had finally achieved an artistic style that I was happy and proud of.”

The winning piece, A Whimsical World, was inspired by Adelaide’s CBD and its key locations, all of which Isabel said was up for interpretation.

The bright painted symbols represented different places, depending on how they were interpreted. 

“I hope each person can come up with their own interpretation and link to [the work].”

The eye-catching poster is made up of a myriad of bright colours, a style Isabel hoped to adopt as her signature style.

“I like to use bright colours. For me they have a hidden meaning of equity and equality,” she said.

Equality in art

Isabel has a strong message of unity and hoped her art could bring people together.

She said her inspiration came from the world around her, that good needed to bring light to the darker things that she saw in the world.

“I want to promote light to all the dark in the world,” she said.

“I want every single person treated the same — no matter who they are.

Isabel’s family and friends were in attendance when the piece was announced the winner of the 2022 poster competition.

“My community is so happy and so proud. It was just a good day for everyone,” she said.