Specsavers has launched a new range of limited-edition frames in collaboration with Gurindji Waanyi contemporary Aboriginal artists to support the work of The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Specsavers said $25 from the sale of each frame within the range – now available in-store and online – will be donated towards The Fred Hollows Foundation’s Indigenous Australia Program to help make eyecare more accessible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Now in its 13th year of partnership with Fred Hollows, Specsavers is said to have contributed more than $7.6 million to the foundation’s programs in Australia. The latest release marks its eighth limited-edition range.
Over the past 13 years, Specsavers donations have helped Fred Hollows, and its program partners, to:
• Screen over 128,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Conduct over 4,600 cataract surgeries and a further 15,800 sight saving operations
• Provide over 13,500 treatments for diabetic retinopathy and
• Train over 1,100 health care workers to deliver culturally responsive care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Specsavers is aiming to raise $500,000 through the sale of these limited-edition glasses for Fred Hollows.
This year’s limited-edition range artists, Ms Sarrita and Ms Tarisse King, are second generation artists and the daughters of Indigenous artist Mr William King Jungala.
“Growing into prolific artists in their own right, Tarisse, based in NZ and Sarrita on Larrakia Country, Northern Territory, are always investigating other mediums to express their stories, which has resulted in a range of collaborations and public projects,” Specsavers said in a statement.
“A collaboration between the sisters, this year’s limited- edition artwork, ‘My Country’s Story’, beautifully captures the diverse landscapes of Australia’s Top End, reflecting on the lives of families and communities who inhabit the land.”
The aerial view of ‘My Country reflects’ on different landscapes, and specifically references Australia’s top end, where the King sisters grew up.
Specsavers said the artwork language of the Earth can be seen to tear through the country reflecting on the families and communities who live on the land, with the different strokes and dots expressing the changing growth of community, connection, and culture.
“Sarrita and I got together to tell a story on a canvas and ended up creating a painting that was reflective of us and our journey,” Tarisse said.
“We have been painting this story in collaboration for years, half the canvas each, to create the work that you see on the limited-edition frames.
“To see our art, that tells our story, used to give back to our mob through the work of The Fred Hollows Foundation is so important to us. As an Aboriginal woman who practices storytelling, I want to use my skills to uplift my people, especially as we are predisposed to so many more issues than others and poor eye health is so common, especially in Indigenous communities.”
Currently, 90% of vision loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples is treatable or preventable, and Specsavers and The Fred Hollows Foundation are aiming to change this.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are three times more likely to have vision impairment or go blind than non-Indigenous Australians, and cataract is 12 times more common among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians than other Australians. Yet over one-third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults have never had an eye exam.
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