Mirror Mirror: Beauty, Body Image and the Self

Bri Lee is an author and freelance writer. Her journalism has appeared in publications such as The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, Guardian Australia and Crikey. Her first book, Eggshell Skull, won Biography of the Year at the ABIA Awards, the People's Choice Award at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, and was longlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize. She is also a non-practicing lawyer and continues to engage in legal research and issues-based advocacy.

Frances Cannon is a queer, multidisciplinary artist based in Melbourne/Narrm. She works predominantly in drawing and painting in ink, gouache and watercolour. Frances is well-known for her simple yet nuanced style of black and white illustration. Frances' work examines ideas of body-love and body-loathing, anxiety, relationships, sex and sexuality, gender, and bodily functions. Her work can be viewed as diaristic as it is based on personal experience.

Frances has been involved in ten successful solo shows at galleries including Tinning Street, Off the Kerb, Courthouse Youth Arts Centre, and numerous group shows at galleries including: Montsalvat, RMIT Gallery, Neon Park, Rubicon ARI, and Fort Delta. Frances has worked with Teen Vogue, Gucci, Refinery 29, Third Drawer Down, and has been published in Frankie, Yen, Teen Vogue, Bustle, HuffPost, Dazed and Confused, Vogue, SBS Australia, i-D Mag, Rookie and many more. Frances is the co-owner and director of Pink Ember Studio in Coburg. She can be found on Instagram here.

Abbey Mag is a proud Dinka Bor woman of Junub Sudan, now formally known as South Sudan. A current Public Relations student, curator and social influencer, Abbeyʼs interests lay in the use of social media and how it can be utilised as means of telling stories and changing narratives. Sheʼs been published and featured in various magazines including Archer magazine, Teen Vogue and Bustle.

Nikki holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Honours from the University of Western Australia and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, specialising in cardiothoracic surgery. Nikki works as a cardiac surgeon and has a special interest in heart disease in women and transplantation. She also has a strong desire to change the way we think about health and is committed to raising awareness of women’s heart disease, currently the number one killer of Australian women.

As a stong advocate for heart health, Nikki hosted Heartbeat: The Miracle Inside you on ABC’s flagship science show Catalyst, and is the author of books – Can You Die of a Broken Heart? and Pretty Unhealthy.

Nikki is the expert commentator on Channel 7's Operation: Live and appears regularly on national shows such as The Today Show, Studio 10 and ABC’s Matter of Fact program. 

Nikki is a passionate advocate for women achieving in domains that are traditionally dominated by men and is a strong advocate for the importance of self-care and work-life balance. She has written for publications including the Huffington Post, the Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald and Mamamia.

A sought after speaker and mentor, she also featured prominently in the ‘I Look Like a Surgeon’ and ‘This is What We Look Like’ campaigns in 2017, which aimed to provide women with strong, positive role models.

She was nominated for Cosmopolitan’s Woman of the Year – Game Changer and one of Harper Bazaar’s Women of the Year for 2017, as well as one of Time Out Sydney’s 40 Under 40 and Mamamia’s Inspirational Women You Can Look Up To.