Ambassadors
Melbourne Art Fair welcomes new friends and familiar faces to the ambassador program ahead of the 19th edition of the Fair in 2026.
Each ambassador has been invited for their creative energy, impeccable taste, and their ongoing support of Australia’s cultural landscape.
Elliot Garnaut
FASHION STYLIST AND COMMENTATOR
Elliot Garnaut is Australia’s preeminent fashion stylist and commentator. Recognised for his discernible style and exuberant persona, Elliot has earned a reputation for disrupting the fashion landscape with work that is impactful, compelling, directional and memorable.
As a stylist, Elliot has worked with some of Australia’s biggest celebrities, including Phoebe Tonkin, Shanina Shaik, Karl Stefanovic, Andy Lee, Rebecca Harding, Carrie Bickmore, Kate Waterhouse and Lauren Phillips. Elliot acted as the Official Stylist for both Chadstone, The Fashion Capital, and Victoria Racing Club and is an ongoing friend of the Australian Turf Club, Sydney.
His TV work includes his role as Fashion Commentator on Seven Network’s Sunrise, The Morning Show and 7Bravo Australia, where he provides expert fashion commentary. He is currently an ambassador to Ralph Lauren and has represented Moet & Chandon, Estee Lauder and eBay, collaborating with the global brands on creative projects.
Brahman Perera
INTERIOR DESIGNER
Brahman Perera approaches interior design as a pursuit in experiential beauty. He applies his own lens through years of experience to compose natural textures, rich colour pairings and sculptural gestures, producing balanced and compelling interiors layered with personal touches. His pledge to personal expression is evident in his experimental lighting and textile designs, imbuing his projects with unique character, sentiment and authenticity. Empathic by nature, Brahman connects with his clients’ identities and harnesses design as an act of storytelling.
A member of the Design Institute of Australia, and winner of 2022 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), Australian Interior Design Awards and Belle Fanuli Awards, and shortlisted for 2024 IDEA Designer of the Year, Perera has over 10 years of experience working with clients, architects, project managers, and town planners.
Brahman Perera offers a wide range of specific and personalised design solutions for contemporary design in Australia.
Rebecca Harding
ENTREPRENEUR, MODEL, ADVOCATE FOR ARTFUL LIVING
Rebecca Harding moves fluidly between fashion, beauty, and design. As the founder of LUI, a luxury razor and body care brand made for women, by women, she brings a sculptural eye and a designer’s precision to the rituals of self-care.
Her career has spanned global campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Hugo Boss, brand ambassadorships with Lancôme and Kérastase, and a long-standing partnership with Ralph Lauren. Regularly featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire, she brings a refined sensibility to everything she touches part entrepreneur, part aesthete.
A proud supporter of Challenge and the Cotton On Foundation, Rebecca champions creativity with conscience. As an ambassador for Melbourne Art Fair, she lends her voice to a new generation of collectors and design-minded thinkers shaping the cultural landscape of Australia.
Richard Parker
FOUNDER/DIRECTOR, RESEARCH, RATIONALE
Since 1992, Richard has worked alongside leading dermatologists and plastic surgeons to craft skincare formulations that are considered the platinum standard in protecting and restoring the natural luminosity of human skin.
A global authority on solar and environmental skin ageing, Richard’s pioneering research into the relationships between skin genetics and epigenetic environmental influences led to his development of the RATIONALE Essential Six—a topical skin ritual built around the six facets of skin health.
Based on Richard’s unique and profound understanding of skin anatomy and physiology, the Essential Six Collections comprise formulations designed to enhance Resilience, Vitality and Brilliance by day, and rejuvenate skin’s Integrity, Clarity and Renewal processes each night.
Today, Richard is dedicated to directing RATIONALE’s talented Team of research scientists and innovation channels at RATIONALE HQ in Melbourne, Australia. A classically trained pianist and cellist, Richard is also passionately immersed in the world of art and culture, and was an accomplished performer and musical educator prior his entry into the world of dermatological research.
Myles Russell-Cook
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CEO, ACCA
Myles is the Artistic Director and CEO of ACCA, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Myles has a long-standing interest in cultural, gender and sexual diversity within both Australian and International contemporary practice, and has worked across a broad range of exhibitions and projects. For over eight years Myles was one of a team of curators who oversaw major contemporary art exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria, including NGV Triennial, and Melbourne Now.
Myles has curated a number of significant exhibitions and programs at NGV including Colony: Frontier Wars (2017), From Bark to Neon (2019), DESTINY (2020), Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories (2021), Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne I Lorraine Connelly Northey (2021), Bark Ladies: Eleven artists from Yirrkala (2021), Queer: Stories from the NGV Collection (2022), Wurrdha Marra (2023), and REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie (2024). Internationally, Myles has curated several exhibitions, including a series of shows in collaboration with the Australian Embassy in Paris: DESTIN: l’art de Destiny Deacon (2022), Rituel et Cérémonie: extrait de Mémoires ancestral (2022), Blak Rainbow: L’Art de Dylan Mooney (2023) and La terre est bleue: l’art de Dhambit Munuggurr (2024).
Myles is the curator of the touring show, The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. This exhibition is the largest exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever presented internationally.
Tali Roth
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, STUDIO TALI ROTH
Studio Tali Roth is a multidisciplinary design studio specialising in the cultivation of spaces defined by storied visual beauty. Established in 2015 by Tali Roth, the studio’s international body of work fuses exquisite craftsmanship and innate functionality to produce deeply layered and highly detailed residential and commercial environments.
Through a holistic approach to interior design and specialist collaborations, Studio Tali Roth has forged a design language of luxe generosity and moderne refinement, each project a unique response to the client and context and anchored by the studio’s preference for whimsical forms, sophisticated materials and objects that embody a sense of sentimentality.
Working across all facets of interior design — from ground up builds, to joinery design, lighting design and furniture and art procurement — Studio Tali Roth is a small core team with proven expansive capabilities.
Henny Scott
ART ADVISOR
Henny Scott recently relocated back to Naarm/Melbourne after spending 22 years in South East Asia where she played a pivotal role as a key connector in the art community.
As a freelance art advisor, Henny has worked on diverse art projects with emerging and celebrated artists, art collectors, interior designers and commercial galleries from Australia, Indonesia, Maldives, Singapore and USA.
Henny was part of jurors for Unconditional Trust: Indonesia, a joint program launched in 2023 by Asia Art Archive and Para Site which offers 7 recipients in Indonesia an unrestricted grant.
Henny played a significant role as an invaluable member of the Steering Committee for the National Gallery Singapore’s marquee biannual fundraising event – Gallery Benefit in 2018, 2022 and 2023. For her outstanding contribution, Henny was conferred a Patron of the Art by the National Art Council, Singapore in 2023.
Henny is a member of the NGVWA and an avid sailor.
Talenia Phau Gajardo
CEO/FOUNDER, THE ARTLING
Annika Kristensen
CURATOR AND CO-DIRECTOR, CHORUS
Annika Kristensen is an experienced curator with a particular interest in commissioning new work by contemporary artists, art in the public domain, and broadening audiences for the arts.
Now an independent curator and writer, Annika was most recently in the position of Visual Arts Curator at Perth Festival (2023 and 2024), and Senior Curator at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in Melbourne (from 2014-2024), where she worked with major international and Australian artists to commission new work and curate significant solo and group exhibitions.
Her curatorial work at ACCA included the exhibitions Laure Prouvost: Oui Move in You (with Max Delany, 2024); Like a Wheel That Turns (with Max Delany, 2023); Frances Barrett: Meatus (2022); Who’s Afraid of Public Space? (with Max Delany and Miriam Kelly 2021-22); Jeremy Deller: Father and Son (with Max Delany, 2021); Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act (2019); The Theatre is Lying (with Max Delany, 2018-19); Eva Rothschild: Kosmos (with Max Delany, 2018); Unfinished Business: Perspectives on art and feminism (with Paola Balla, Max Delany, Julie Ewington, Vikki McInnes and Elvis Richardson, 2017–18); Greater Together (2017); Claire Lambe: Mother Holding Something Horrific (with Max Delany, 2017) and NEW16 (2016).
Annika was Exhibition and Project Coordinator for the 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014) and the inaugural Nick Waterlow OAM Curatorial Fellow for the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012). She has also held positions at Frieze Art Fair, Artangel, Film and Video Umbrella, London; and The West Australian newspaper, Perth.
Annika holds an MSc In Art History, Theory and Display from the University of Edinburgh, following undergraduate studies in Arts (Communication Studies) at the University of Western Australia.
Simon Wright
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, LEARNING + PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY | GALLERY OF MODERN ART
Simon Wright has held public programming, exhibition, curatorial and management positions in private, commercial, public gallery and museum realms since 1993. Currently Assistant Director (Learning + Public Engagement) at Queensland Art Gallery l Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), he is a former Director of Griffith Artworks + Griffith University Art Gallery, Exhibitions Manager at Brisbane City Gallery, curatorial consultant to private collections and Gallery Manager at Bellas Gallery (now Milani Gallery). He has worked on over 250 exhibition and publication projects, receiving a Museums Australia Gallery and Museum Individual Achievement Award in 2004-5, and a National Australia Bank Partnering Award (QLD) at the Australia Business Arts Foundation Awards in 2006. In 2009 he was appointed to The Venice Biennale Commissioner’s Council for Australia at the 53rd Venice Biennale and has since participated as a member of the Venice Biennale Champions Program for Australia (VB54-57). In 2012 he was a member of the selection committee for The Premier of Queensland’s International Sculpture Commission and in 2013 was elected to the Board of The Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Friends of the Fair
Friends of the Fair are our extended family, aligned with the Fair’s mission to support living artists and elevate contemporary art. A valued circle of creatives, collectors and art advocates, they continue to make an impression across Australia’s cultural landscape and beyond in their own right, while sharing an enduring affection for the Fair.
Pascale Gomes-McNabb
Interior Designer and Director, PGMD
Anna Shapiro Taylor
Art Advisor
Randal Marsh
Architect and co-founder, Wood Marsh
Steve Cordony
Interior and Event Stylist
David Flack
Founder and Principal, Flack Studio
Holly Lucas
Managing Director, Bureau of Innovation
Alice Wells
Director, Lempriere Wells
Christie Nicolaides
Jewellery Designer
Patricia Szonert
Director, MMO Interiors
Tyrone Dylan Susnman
Model and Fashion Consultant
Louis Li
Founder and Managing Director, JKLP Group
Tamsin Johnson
Interior Designer and Collector
