Cynthia Hawkins is a multidisciplinary artist of Chinese-Malaysian heritage based in Australia. Her practice spans wearable art, sculpture, fashion, photography, and design, with a strong focus on intricate, sculptural garment construction informed by cultural narrative and material experimentation.

Her work is distinguished by highly detailed structural forms inspired by imperial Chinese history, mythology, and symbolism. Major collections including Empress at Forbidden City, Wu Zhou, Tian Chao, and Feng Huang explore themes of power, transformation, and identity through elaborate wearable sculptures that merge traditional references with contemporary design.

A defining element of her practice is the use of Thai momigami papers, including soft and double sided hard varieties, which she employs as a structural material to build form, texture, and architectural detail within her garments. In her Tian Chao collection, she extensively used black, gold, silver, red, and gold momigami to construct richly layered works that combine visual opulence with technical precision.

Supported by Arts Tasmania, Tian Chao was presented as a finale collection at FOMA, one of Australia’s largest multicultural fashion events, representing Tasmania on a national stage. The collection was also showcased in 2021 at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney before international diplomatic representatives, highlighting her work’s cultural reach and impact.
Through her practice, Cynthia creates immersive wearable artworks that merge craftsmanship, cultural storytelling, and sculptural innovation into powerful visual statements.