Global modelling sensation Adut Akech Bior on motherhood, modelling and creative kinship
The South Sudanese refugee turned top supermodel Adut Akech Bior marks her ninth Vogue Australia cover with a powerful portrait alongside her baby daughter.
Born in a South Sudanese refugee camp and granted asylum in Adelaide at age seven, Adut Akech Bior has become one of fashion’s most influential voices.
An unstoppable trajectory began at just age 16, when Akech Bior was booked by Saint Laurent to walk the runway exclusively in Paris, leading to campaigns with major fashion houses, covering Vogue editions worldwide, and advocacy work as a high-profile supporter of the UNHCR.
For this, her ninth Vogue Australia cover, Akech Bior marks a transformational chapter and unveils a deeply personal milestone, appearing with her 11-month-old daughter, Kiki, in a portrait celebrating motherhood, heritage and creative kinship.
Photographed by British-Ghanaian artist Campbell Addy, Akech Bior appears in a gold dress against a red background, her daughter wrapped in black – colours of the South Sudanese flag. The collaboration between Akech Bior and Addy spans nearly a decade, beginning shooting together for i-D magazine in early 2018.
Motherhood has been transformational. “Every time I get asked this question, I’m smiling from ear to ear,” Akech Bior said when discussing with Addy the arrival of Kiki. “I thought I was patient before, but it teaches you another level of patience. It’s just a love that I’ve never experienced, or I didn’t think it was possible to love a human being this much.”
Akech Bior, who counts supermodel Naomi Campbell among her mentors, recounts how she turns to industry veterans for advice on staying grounded. “I remember when I first met Naomi and I came to New York, it was like September 2017, and I went and had dinner at her apartment,” she says. “And we were just talking about life and she said, ‘Just try to not lose yourself’.”
Akech Bior has been a trailblazer in the industry and has championed diversity from the outset while sharing her childhood experience of leaving South Sudan to build a new life in Australia.
“I learned to just be proud of it and embrace it. That’s why I always talk about things like ‘I’m a refugee’. When I first got to Australia, it was a culture shock for me,” she says. “I started to feel ashamed because I was different. I didn’t know how to speak English … one day something just happened, and I was like, ‘Well, I can’t change that. I cannot change that I’m from South Sudan or that I grew up in a refugee camp’.”
Kiki was born in late November, an early birthday and Christmas present for Akech Bior, who was born on Christmas Day.
Vogue Australia’s November issue is on sale November 3.
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