Paola Balla is an artist, curator, writer, and lecturer. She is a Wemba-Wemba & Gunditjmara woman. She is a PhD Candidate at Victoria University where she is the inaugural Lisa Bellear Indigenous Research Scholar (2016-2020). Her practice-led research situates the ways Aboriginal women artists and activists/protectors disrupt artistic terra nullius by speaking back and ‘blak’ to patriarchal and colonial narratives. Her work is informed by matriarchy, family, Country, and the lived experiences and relationality of Koorie identity. The works in Affirmation are from Paola’s Mok Mok PhD series, produced with the assistance of Anthony Balla (photo shoot collaborator) and Rosie Kalina (make up artist).