When Newcastle's Jasmine Craciun was asked if she'd like to design gear for the Australian Olympics surfing team, she was - as they say in surfing culture - stoked.
The funny thing was, the request itself came in such a relaxed way.
She was working with Indigenous social change agency Cox Inall Ridgeway in Sydney. Advertising agency BWM Dentsu had "reached out and wanted art done for their beautiful new office that overlooks the Harbour Bridge".
"I had a Zoom meeting with them about that. At the end of the meeting they were like, by the way, we've also got the opportunity to create the branding for our national surf team that is going to the Olympics. If you're keen, would you want to be a part of that project?" Jasmine said.
"I was like, wait a minute, you're asking me to create work for a team that's going to the Olympics? That's a big deal. I was like, I'd love to be involved. Then they told me about the whole process they were going through."
Jasmine's designs were used for uniforms and surfboards of the team, which was officially nicknamed Irukandji - an Aboriginal name for the deadly box jellyfish.
The idea being that the surfers aimed to be deadly in the water.
It was important to Jasmine that the name Irukandjis was gifted to the surfing team by the Yirrganydji people, based in far north Queensland where the jellyfish float.
"Surfing Australia had gone through the process of getting the name. So it sounded like a really wonderful collaborative project. I was really keen to be involved," she said.
Jasmine grew up in Newcastle, but is a Barkindji woman [people of the Darling River]. She gained a degree in visual communication design from the University of Newcastle in 2018, before becoming a freelance artist.
Her inspiration for the surf designs came from "the fluidity of the ocean, sea anemones and peering into a rock pool".
"It was about trying to create things in nature connected to the ocean and speaking to the ocean and what our surfers would connect to as well."
Jasmine has a strong connection with water.
"My family on my mother's side is from out west, along the Darling River. I've grown up along the ocean," she said.
"I think if I was ever to move away, I'd have to be near some body of water."
Her dad grew up in Newcastle as a surfer. "He loved it when he was a kid," she said.
She took her dad to the launch of her designs with the surf team. "Seeing the surfers there, he was over the moon," she said.
She believes connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are strengthening in Australia.
"I think part of the reason I'm able to do the work I do is because people are appreciating and valuing the work I do," she said.
"Maybe five years ago, I wouldn't have had as many people interested in employing me the way I have today. It's special. We're seeing a real shift."
Bronzed Aussie
Australia's surfing team was in action on Tuesday, with Owen Wright winning a bronze medal. He became the first ever Olympics surfing medalist.
In the lead-up to the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii six years ago, Wright suffered a severe injury that left him with bleeding on the brain. He was unable to walk and talk.
He made a full recovery, returning to the water in 2017. Considering what he's been through, his bronze medal must be worth its weight in gold.
