Guest writer Sara Khan reflects on how actor Deborah Mailman helped shape and influence her own body of work as a young First Nations creative.

This early scene in The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, 2012), introduces us to 3 of the main characters in the film – Gail (Deborah Mailman), Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) and Julie (Jessica Mauboy),

This clip from The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, 2012) features a key moment in the film where we discover the reason behind the fraught relationship between Gail (Deborah Mailman) and her cousi

A long blue-sequinned dress worn by Julie (played by Jessica Mauboy) in The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, Australia, 2012).

NFSA staff unpack a blue dress, as worn in The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, Australia, 2012). 

Still from the feature film of The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, Australia, 2012). L-R: Deborah Mailman, Shari Sebbens, Jessica Mauboy and Miranda Tapsell.

The real Sapphires, the original singing group that inspired the 2004 stage play and 2012 film. Left to right: Beverley Briggs, Laurel Robinson, Lois Peeler and Naomi Mayers.

Deborah Mailman, Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Mauboy and Shari Sebbens on stage in a scene from The Sapphires (Wayne Blair, Australia, 2012).