Kisha V1

THE MANY FACES OF A

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED

I would like to introduce you to the reason why I’m here today metaphorically and literally.

My concept revolves around strength in femininity and my root connection to design and the people who led me there. My sisters and I used to drive our mother insane with three girls running around, so she would come up with creative time consuming activities. My favourite activity was when my mother would take my sisters and I fortnightly for a shopping spree at the big Salvos on Princes Highway with $10 each in our pockets ready to let loose in our playground.

The ride home would be filled with talk of different accessories and clothing to adorn our prized dolls with. At home we would sketch little designs and begin to make outfits for our dolls with our mothers help. DIY’s, baking, gardening and even martial arts are one of the many things our mother had us very much involved in and learning.

Growing up I had the opportunity to witness my mother go through many transformational changes in her life. I watched her learn to adapt and become who she needed to be when needed.

My mother taught Filipino Language classes at Tempe Primary School in 2007 and was deeply involved in multicultural events at school as a mother, teacher and role model. This is my first memory of experiencing pride in seeing my culture being represented in another country and to also be represented by my mother, it made all her children proud. This work is to highlight and embrace Josie Tornea Vagi in all her forms as a woman and to appreciate her beauty in strength and vulnerability. This is an ode to my mother, a gemini woman who taught me that to create is to live and the catalyst of my design journey and my eternal inspiration.

MEET JOSIE

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

Josie Tornea was born on a Thursday, the 6th of June, 1974.

This Gemini woman was raised in a small rural village on Negros in the Philippines and grew up to meet and marry an Australian man, then mothering four children who she loves very dearly. Josie first moved to Australia in 2003 after marrying and from there she has evolved countless time to meet many challenges. This is ongoing as part of Life. One of the many traits of Gemini women is their ability to appreciate the differences in all aspects of life due to their sensitive nature, which helps them percieve beauty with ease. What’s interesting about observing this particular Gemini woman’s evolution, is seeing how far she’s come in a new country. The strength it took to experience the many things she went through to shape herself throughout the years, her face embellished with lines that tell a story of this Gemini woman...

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

Josie’s Spanish influence stems from her mother’s Argentinian heritage and the colonisation of the Philippines by Spain. Josie’s mother migrated to the Philippines with her family when she was only nine years old.

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

Happiness is a Spa Day.

Josie loves being pampered just as much as much the next woman. She loves to spend her free time getting pampered by her kids or going to the salon. Grooming is one of her favourite pastimes to unwind. Growing up doing beauty pageants and competitions throughout the years, self grooming became a necessary part of her daily life, a habit all her children adopted. Josie believes that cleanliness and tidiness is a representaion of your own self worth and self resepect.

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

- JOSIE TORNEA VAGI

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

COOKING WITH

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

JOSIE

TORNEA VAGI

Filipino tattoos originates back to a time prior to the colonisation by the Spaniards in 1521. When the Spaniards arrived on the shores of “La Isla De Los Pintados” which meant the Islands of the Painted Ones, they were greeted by vastly covered in tattoos Visayan tribe. Visayas is the region I am from, Negros Occidental, my Island home.

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

-JOSIE TORNEA VAGI

BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI

J: “What empowers me as a Gemini woman is that I am capable of gaining strength on my own in order to raise, protect, nurture and guide my children into better people. Due to my strength in duality. I was able to be both mother and father to my children”

as a gemini woman, what empowers you most?

as a filipino woman, what do you value most most about your culture?

J: “What I value most about Filipino culture is that our hospitality and generosity are unmatched. People in my village will offer their food, clothes and homes with open arms for anyone in need. I also value our resilience and free spirit as people.”

what was the hardest thing you had to go through moving your life to australia?

J: “The hardest part of moving my entire life to Australia was being away from my eldest daughter for a few years and leaving my parents behind, homesick.”

STYLED/PHOTOGRAPHED BY KISHA TORNEA VAGI