MADE IN KIN: The Manifesto
Photo Credit: Bella Loke
In this manifesto, MADE IN KIN founder Pauline Morrissey draws on more than a decade working across Australian media to question how culture is shaped, whose stories are elevated, and what it means to build creative spaces where people of colour are equally recognised – not simply used as diversity decor.
For more than twelve years, I’ve written about places, homes and creative talent across Australia for some of the country’s leading publications. I’ve travelled through cities, suburbs and regions, spending years documenting the spaces – and the people – Australians choose to spotlight.
This work has given me a unique vantage point. Not just as an observer, but as someone who has been inside these rooms long enough to understand how our cultural landscape is shaped – who is centred, who is celebrated and whose stories are still waiting to be told.
Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world. Our food, language, design, fashion and rituals are deeply influenced by migration, diaspora and generations of cultural exchange. And yet, when it comes to media, publishing and the creative industries, that richness isn’t always reflected with the depth, nuance or consistency it deserves.
Throughout my career, I’ve often found myself one of only two – if lucky, three – people of colour in creative and media spaces. As a Filipina-Australian, I’ve moved through these rooms with genuine gratitude for the opportunities I’ve been given. Over time, though, as I leaned more fully into my heritage and identity, the absence around me became harder to ignore.
An absence in bylines. In featured stories. In team lists, creative collaborations and event rooms. And while I’ve been fortunate to have a seat at the table, a simple question has stayed with me: where are the rest of us?
And yet, so much of Australian culture begins with us. Our traditions shape the way we eat, gather, dress and live. Our aesthetics are borrowed, adapted and celebrated – often without acknowledgement of their origins. Our stories are everywhere, even when we aren’t credited as their authors.
MADE IN KIN was created in response to that gap. It is a creative studio, publishing platform and community space dedicated to centring people of colour as cultural authors and collaborators. A place where our stories and work are not squeezed into side rooms or wheeled out as seasonal diversity decor, but recognised as essential contributions – with voice, depth and authority.
The name MADE IN KIN reclaims the labels many of us grew up seeing – the “MADE IN [our homelands]” tags that once felt like markers of difference. Ask any POC in a white-dominated room how they feel and they’ll tell you: that label sits under our skin.
As a collective, we are here to shift the centre. To widen the room. To claim space – and to wear our labels with pride.
