Meet Tai Snaith: The Artist Behind Our Wildest Holiday Yet!

"I hope that it makes people feel like they can be their weird selves, with all their imperfections and nuances and celebrate their own wild chorus within,” says Australian artist and author Tai Snaith of the Join the Wild Chorus campaign.

Based in Naarm (Melbourne), Snaith creates alive, unruly and slightly surreal worlds where people, plants and animals intertwine. Rooted in storytelling, her work explores the natural world and the resilience of women – drawing inspiration from weeds, wildflowers and the overlooked women of art history.

"I find inspiration in nature and the way that certain weeds or flowers grow in adverse conditions. I also find inspiration in the stories of creative women from the past – especially those who were considered difficult or unruly, and who maybe didn't fit into the mainstream art movements at the time," Snaith tells The MECCA Memo.

It’s a fitting perspective for MECCA and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting women in the arts – and for the first time in MECCA's over 10-year partnership with the NGV, Snaith has created an original work especially for the campaign. Titled Party of the Parts, it brings together a joyful cast of anthropomorphic characters in a celebration of community, individuality and belonging.

This holiday season, those characters will take over MECCA’s stores, gift boxes and bags, bringing colour, creativity and a little wildness to every gift. "Each of them represents a different aspect of myself and also a universal aspect of being a woman... I like the way that others might see themselves in these characters, too,” Snaith explains. “They represent a community of individuals – all unique but also capable of working together and creating a wild chorus."

There’s an element of wildness in the way Snaith works, too; her process relies on instinct, experimentation and surrendering control. She begins by staining raw linen with inks and pigments before stretching the fabric and painting over it in oils, allowing unexpected marks and imperfections to become part of the finished work.

"I still really like the unpredictability of how water-based inks and watercolour dry – sometimes it's nice when it is out of my control,” she says, adding that she’s also started painting with brushes taped to sticks – collected from her own garden! – to “take a bit of control away from [her] hand.”

Alongside the collaboration, MECCA has supported the acquisiton of some of Snaith's upcoming works for the NGV, including being featured in the upcoming NGV Triennial. Her large-scale wall painting, Wild Weed Tea, celebrates "unruly creative women from art history”, drawing parallels with the “resilience and tenacity” of weeds.

It’s a sentiment that runs through Snaith’s practice: there is beauty in being individual, imperfect and impossible to tame. And when all those individual voices come together, something louder begins to grow.

Join the Wild Chorus in MECCA stores and online from 27 October.