30 extraordinary Australians who are making the world a better place
It’s the hot topic at social gatherings and workplaces (including Fernwood): have you seen Embrace?
Deborra-lee
The extraordinary social-impact documentary, that confronts our collective fears about how our bodies look to others, was funded with a Kickstarter campaign and, after its premiere at the 2016 Sydney Film Festival, is carving its way through the world, driving its ‘love your body’ message across cultures.
FURNESS Adoption advocate & actress
Embrace is the work of Taryn Brumfitt, mother of three who was ready to undergo plastic surgery to ‘repair the damage’ to her body wrought by childbirth and ageing. And then, the epiphany: how could she teach her daughter to love her body when Taryn, herself, could not? Fears confronted. Surgery cancelled. And, in its place, a passionate, high energy global crusade, the Body Image Movement, was born, urging all people to love the skin they’re in and to question the unrealistic marketing messages that swamp us, every day.
The problem with being an actress is that people can make the mistake of thinking the person up on screen is all that there is. Deborra-lee Furness has put paid to that by building a body of philanthropic work, around the adoption of children, that can’t possibly be ignored. The founder of Australia’s National Adoption Awareness Week, as well as the Adopt Change not-for-profit organisation, among so many other achievements, Furness has tirelessly campaigned for the rights of vulnerable children, and questioned the established - but not necessarily humane - legislation, practices and protocols around adoption and foster care.
The warm, irrepressible Brumfitt writes, is a compelling public speaker and uses social media to communicate across the globe to advocate for an end to the self-loathing that creates a spiral of despair and unhappiness. And her powerful message is snowballing. Brumfitt describes her role as “to harness and facilitate positive body image activism by teaching women the value and power of loving their bodies … from the inside out!” bodyimagemovement.com
Taryn
BRUMFITT
Recognised globally for her work and an active participant in other philanthropic organisations from World Vision to the UN Women for Peace Association, the wife of actor Hugh Jackman and mother to two adopted children has recently created Hopeland. It’s an initiative exploring why children can be separated from their birth parents, whether by domestic violence or war or everything in between, and whether community development, along with available education and health services, can make a difference before the unfolding tragedy can take hold. “I actually didn’t embark on advocacy work, it embarked on me” she told MamaMia. I felt like I was led. I hate injustice and especially when it’s to do with kids.” adoptchange.org.au
BODY IMAGE WARRIOR 26 fernwood
Image Katherine Shultz Photography for Peppermint Magazine
Image Russell James
women OF substance 27