From localised subcultures to complex global outlooks, the Surf Coast’s independent publishing scene is an extraordinary mashup of art, place, surf, community, analogue, digital, and everything in between. In a world where mainstream media is increasingly concentrated and corporatised, a thriving independent publishing sector is more important than ever. This panel discussion explores the big questions around the future of independent publishing — curation, culture, content, marketing, distribution and business models — and how we can, collectively, make the space for it to thrive.
Gill Hutchison — Surf Life: Women Who Live to Surf and Create Speaker
Gill has worked in a variety of roles in publishing since 1999. She discovered surfing in her mid-30s and soon after bought an asbestos palace in Anglesea. For the past decade she has been documenting her observations on surf culture, initially through a blog which morphed into a book called Surf Life. She works as a bookseller and a freelance project book editor and is a regular contributor to The Guardian and Surfing World. She is an enthusiastic but average surfer and loves a chat in the carpark almost as much as surfing itself.
Mick Sowry — Great Ocean Quarterly Speaker
Mick Sowry is a storyteller and surfer. He makes photographs, films, books and magazines about the ocean. He is the award-winning writer, producer and director of The Reef, The Reef Redux, and Musica Surfica — films made in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Mick conceived and is the creative director, and co-publisher, of Great Ocean Quarterly, a journal of art, ideas and the sea. His work has featured in The Surfer’s Journal, Surfing World, Surfline, and Great Ocean Quarterly. In 2022 he published ‘a spark becomes an is’ — a limited edition hardbound book of life on the coast, in story, verse, illustration and photography, precipitated by the sudden death of his wife, Sue, in 2019.
Mick’s large-format photographic work recently featured in his solo exhibition ‘Spark’ at Hoop Gallery in Torquay, Australia, and the group show ‘South West’ at Boom Gallery, Geelong. Mick has two sons, Joey and Tom. Both are artists. He lives, with Tom, in the village of Jan Juc, just five minutes from his beloved Bells Beach.
Oliver Georgiou — MINDHEAD Speaker
My name is Oliver Georgiou, most people call me Olie or OG. I am the creator of MIND HEAD. What is it? Established in 2012, MIND HEAD is a core cultural documentation umbrella covering travel, graffiti, surf, art, road yarns, memoirs and truth. I’ve released a string of journalistic series and standalone publications under the MIND HEAD moniker, the common theme throughout all is ‘considered time-capsulism’.
In my 45 years on Earth to-date, I’ve worked as a traditional animator, journalist, magazine editor and designer. I grew up on Chapel Street, lived in Kings Cross then Tokyo and since 2018 (when I finally obtained my probationary drivers licence at the age of 39) I’ve been living in Torquay with my wife, Yoko and two children Akira and Momoko.
Sean Doherty — Surfing World and Patagonia’s Roaring Journals Speaker
Sean Doherty has written about surfing for almost 30 years. He edited Tracks magazine for 10 years, was a senior writer at Surfer magazine for 15, and currently publishes and edits Surfing World, which has its global headquarters in his spare bedroom. He’s written best-selling biographies on Michael Peterson and Maroubra’s Bra Boys and has worked
extensively as a broadcast commentator and correspondent on the surfing world tour. He’s currently Head of Editorial at Patagonia Australia, Chair of Surfrider Foundation Australia, and lives down the road from Angourie.
Tamsin O'Neill — Green Magazine and Walkers Journal Speaker
Tamsin is co-founder of niche publishers Green Press and editor of green magazine, which is devoted to the best in local, sustainable design, architecture and landscape architecture and is celebrating its 100th issue in 2024. In 2021 Tamsin, along with Tom Bodycomb, launched Walkers Journal, a seasonal guide to coastal, overland and urban walks from around Australia.
Tamsin has been invited to speak at various talks and forums on issues relating to architecture and sustainability, including a Petcha Kutcha session at the Edge in Federation Square for Architecture Week, at the Powerhouse Museum as part of Sydney Design and at the Queensland State Library for their Think Outside series.
Tamsin has mediated on sessions at the MPavilion, Melbourne Design Week, DesignBUILD and DENFAIR and was a member of the shortlisting committee for the Land Art Generator 2018 design competition. In 2019 Tamsin was on the judging panel for the Tasmanian Design Awards and for the Victorian Design Challenge at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Ula Majewski — writer and photographer Moderator
Ula is a storyteller and environmental campaigner. She works in the editorial and design team at Patagonia and occasionally moonlights as a greenhorn magazine editor, art curator, film producer and grassroots festival organiser. Formerly, Ula worked on environmental and human rights campaigns across the Asia-Pacific region for Oxfam Australia and the Red Cross Climate Centre, and as a forest campaigner in lutruwita/Tasmania. Her words and photographs have featured in fine surf publications like Surfing World, White Horses and Roaring Journals. Ula co-produced KIN, Patagonia’s latest ocean film, guest edited the last ‘She Has Stories’ issue of White Horses and co-curated the ‘Shoulda Been Here Yesterday’ exhibition at Hoop Gallery in Torquay. She is a co-founder of High Line Surf Fest. Ula likes surfs, walks and cleaning up thousands of pieces of rubbish from remote World Heritage beaches. She lives in Jan Juc, on the unceded Country of the Wadawurrung people.
Next Wave: The Future of Independent Publishing
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From localised subcultures to complex global outlooks, the Surf Coast’s independent publishing scene is an extraordinary mashup of art, place, surf, community, analogue, digital, and everything in between. In a world where mainstream media is increasingly concentrated and corporatised, a thriving independent publishing sector is more important than ever. This panel discussion explores the big questions around the future of independent publishing — curation, culture, content, marketing, distribution and business models — and how we can, collectively, make the space for it to thrive.
Gill Hutchison — Surf Life: Women Who Live to Surf and Create Speaker
Gill has worked in a variety of roles in publishing since 1999. She discovered surfing in her mid-30s and soon after bought an asbestos palace in Anglesea. For the past decade she has been documenting her observations on surf culture, initially through a blog which morphed into a book called Surf Life. She works as a bookseller and a freelance project book editor and is a regular contributor to The Guardian and Surfing World. She is an enthusiastic but average surfer and loves a chat in the carpark almost as much as surfing itself.
Mick Sowry — Great Ocean Quarterly Speaker
Mick Sowry is a storyteller and surfer. He makes photographs, films, books and magazines about the ocean. He is the award-winning writer, producer and director of The Reef, The Reef Redux, and Musica Surfica — films made in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Mick conceived and is the creative director, and co-publisher, of Great Ocean Quarterly, a journal of art, ideas and the sea. His work has featured in The Surfer’s Journal, Surfing World, Surfline, and Great Ocean Quarterly. In 2022 he published ‘a spark becomes an is’ — a limited edition hardbound book of life on the coast, in story, verse, illustration and photography, precipitated by the sudden death of his wife, Sue, in 2019.
Mick’s large-format photographic work recently featured in his solo exhibition ‘Spark’ at Hoop Gallery in Torquay, Australia, and the group show ‘South West’ at Boom Gallery, Geelong. Mick has two sons, Joey and Tom. Both are artists. He lives, with Tom, in the village of Jan Juc, just five minutes from his beloved Bells Beach.
Oliver Georgiou — MINDHEAD Speaker
My name is Oliver Georgiou, most people call me Olie or OG. I am the creator of MIND HEAD. What is it? Established in 2012, MIND HEAD is a core cultural documentation umbrella covering travel, graffiti, surf, art, road yarns, memoirs and truth. I’ve released a string of journalistic series and standalone publications under the MIND HEAD moniker, the common theme throughout all is ‘considered time-capsulism’.
In my 45 years on Earth to-date, I’ve worked as a traditional animator, journalist, magazine editor and designer. I grew up on Chapel Street, lived in Kings Cross then Tokyo and since 2018 (when I finally obtained my probationary drivers licence at the age of 39) I’ve been living in Torquay with my wife, Yoko and two children Akira and Momoko.
Sean Doherty — Surfing World and Patagonia’s Roaring Journals Speaker
Sean Doherty has written about surfing for almost 30 years. He edited Tracks magazine for 10 years, was a senior writer at Surfer magazine for 15, and currently publishes and edits Surfing World, which has its global headquarters in his spare bedroom. He’s written best-selling biographies on Michael Peterson and Maroubra’s Bra Boys and has worked
extensively as a broadcast commentator and correspondent on the surfing world tour. He’s currently Head of Editorial at Patagonia Australia, Chair of Surfrider Foundation Australia, and lives down the road from Angourie.
Tamsin O'Neill — Green Magazine and Walkers Journal Speaker
Tamsin is co-founder of niche publishers Green Press and editor of green magazine, which is devoted to the best in local, sustainable design, architecture and landscape architecture and is celebrating its 100th issue in 2024. In 2021 Tamsin, along with Tom Bodycomb, launched Walkers Journal, a seasonal guide to coastal, overland and urban walks from around Australia.
Tamsin has been invited to speak at various talks and forums on issues relating to architecture and sustainability, including a Petcha Kutcha session at the Edge in Federation Square for Architecture Week, at the Powerhouse Museum as part of Sydney Design and at the Queensland State Library for their Think Outside series.
Tamsin has mediated on sessions at the MPavilion, Melbourne Design Week, DesignBUILD and DENFAIR and was a member of the shortlisting committee for the Land Art Generator 2018 design competition. In 2019 Tamsin was on the judging panel for the Tasmanian Design Awards and for the Victorian Design Challenge at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Ula Majewski — writer and photographer Moderator
Ula is a storyteller and environmental campaigner. She works in the editorial and design team at Patagonia and occasionally moonlights as a greenhorn magazine editor, art curator, film producer and grassroots festival organiser. Formerly, Ula worked on environmental and human rights campaigns across the Asia-Pacific region for Oxfam Australia and the Red Cross Climate Centre, and as a forest campaigner in lutruwita/Tasmania. Her words and photographs have featured in fine surf publications like Surfing World, White Horses and Roaring Journals. Ula co-produced KIN, Patagonia’s latest ocean film, guest edited the last ‘She Has Stories’ issue of White Horses and co-curated the ‘Shoulda Been Here Yesterday’ exhibition at Hoop Gallery in Torquay. She is a co-founder of High Line Surf Fest. Ula likes surfs, walks and cleaning up thousands of pieces of rubbish from remote World Heritage beaches. She lives in Jan Juc, on the unceded Country of the Wadawurrung people.