Jumping for joy: Jessica Barlow and Ror Akot were recognised at the Unleashed Festival in Melbourne. Photo: Matilda Marozzi
Young Australian change makers, including Victoria’s Ror Akot and Jessica Barlow, were recognised at the Unleashed Festival in Melbourne over the weekend.
Run by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), the Unleashed Festival aims to celebrate and support young people making a difference in their community.
“As an organisation we figured young people are often celebrated for their achievements and contributions in sport, in academic studies, in performance and things like that,” said FYA’s Digital Community Manager Brianna Davidson.
“But (they’re) not so often officially recognised for their efforts in volunteering and contributions to the social fabric of this country.”
Knox’s Jessica Barlow was surprised to receive the ‘Made in Vic’ award after she was nominated for her work around body image and confidence in teenage girls.
In 2012 Jessica launched the Brainwash Project, petitioning CLEO magazine to include photoshop disclaimers on all doctored images.
“I went to an all girls school and magazine culture, as I call it, sort of took over our school,” Ms Barlow said.
“It all became about image and looking like what we saw in the magazines. It became my life. Every single day was how to look like the people in the magazines and the reality is that even the people in the magazines don’t look like their own pictures.”
Ms Barlow’s award comes just weeks after Melbourne based model Meaghan Kausman got worldwide media coverage after she criticised Fella Swimwear for altering a photo of her to make her look thinner.
The model’s opposition to her own images being doctored is an example Ms Barlow hopes others will follow.
“There are so many people who disagree with photoshopping in the media,” Ms Barlow said. “Every time someone speaks up about it we get a little bit closer to getting this issue resolved.”
Fitzroy rapper Ror Akot was also surprised by his win. Mr Akot has been working closely with Yarra City Council as a youth ambassador, helping to tackle issues in the community and run events.
“Equality – that’s the big one that we tackled a few years ago,” Mr Akot said.
“Right now [we are focusing on] the environment.”
Moving to Australia as a refugee from Sudan’s civil war when he was nine years old wasn’t easy for Mr Akot.
“When I came here I didn’t really find that I was as equal as everyone,” Mr Akot said.
“It was very different to Africa. It was completely different and I wasn’t expecting it to turn out this way.”
Despite residual prejudice, Australia has opened many doors for Mr Akot.
“If I was still in Africa I probably would not have become a rapper,” Mr Akot said. “There’s not much opportunities [in Africa], and here it’s just filled with opportunities and I feel blessed for that.”
On top of completing high school and writing songs for a follow-up to his debut album Hear Me Ror, Mr Akot wants to assist people in his homeland. He is planning to help his sister collect basic sanitary items and distribute them to those in need in South Sudan.
“It’s going to be an awesome project.”
A series of workshops was also held at the Royal Exhibition Building as part of the Unleashed Festival. The workshops were designed to cater for people at all stages of the “change-making journey”, from those who had just started thinking about volunteering, to people running not-for-profits.
Ms Davidson hopes people left the festival feeling empowered to create change in their community.
“I think if you have the drive and initiative to change something, and you are willing to put in the effort and jump hurdles and come back from setbacks … then you are definitely well on your way to being able to make the change that you want to see.”
The Verb, Jarmarley Willett and Aaron and Kaitlin Tait were also recognised at the Unleashed Festival for their contributions to social change in Australia.
Meet all the Unleashed Festival winners here.
