"My outfit today channels my complex feminine power. There are many ancient cultures that embrace the dark, earthy energy snakes bring, and I draw on that energy.
Powerful adornments: Professor Ronika Power, pictured, uses fashion to connect with her creativity. Image: Joanne Stephan
In contrast, my headwear also draws upon the light. It’s a piece called ‘Genesis’ by the London milliner Hood. It’s about harnessing the power of the sun – the force we need for life on earth. I really like the idea of embracing and balancing both the dark and the light in my outfit – which ties back to my research interests in biocultural approaches to life and death.
Another favourite outfit is my red robes and devil horns. Red is important because it is about fire, passion and love and it can also be about resistance and uprising. Again, to maintain complexity and balance, one day I might wear devil horns and the next I wear priestly robes with a halo headpiece.
My outfits help me connect with the fundamental importance of creativity in academic life and work. My dress style, my adornments and my make-up are opportunities to practice and embody creativity every day. It feeds my research energy, my teaching energy, my community energy. Creativity is also essential for me to maintain good mental health. It enables me to spark joy, and to be attuned to my passions.
I love to wear head-dresses, have piercings, wear elaborate make-up and fabulous clothing.
One of things I teach my mentees and students is that there are infinite ways of being and there are infinite ways of expressing ourselves. There is no one right or wrong way, and we should celebrate our diversity. Expressing my authentic self is an irrepressible force for me.
Academia is my second career. My first career was in women’s fashion business management. Although I was successful, the calls of the ancient dead kept whispering in my ear to learn from their stories, and eventually I could not resist. I started my undergrad as a mature-age student aged 26 in 2001, and eventually got my PhD in 2012 after 11 years in 2012.
As women in academia, we are often told or it’s implied that we need to conform to stereotypes, to dress and act in certain ways if we hope to advance our careers.
That is a broken system. Here at Macquarie we are committed to fixing that system. For me, dressing the way I do is a daily act of quiet activism against such ridiculous and outdated ideas. It is unsound to say that I can’t be as clever or have as much capacity because I love to wear head-dresses, have piercings, wear elaborate make-up and fabulous clothing. I don’t need to be anything other than who I am to be successful and to feel fulfilled and seen in my career. I feel a greater sense of belonging when I bring my whole self to work.
One thing I have learned from working with the dead is that life is not a dress rehearsal! You don’t have to fit anyone’s mould and you can create your own authentic way of being."
