Good Humans | Amanda Jones
We believe that style is about more than what we wear - it's how we move, create and connect. It's the choices we make, the energy we bring and the stories we tell. Good Humans is a journal series exploring just that: the intersection of self-expression, purpose and the quiet power of living with intention.
In this chapter of Good Humans, we meet Amanda Jones - an artist, poet and filmmaker whose work is rooted in presence and play. From walking away from the burnout culture of fashion to carving a freelance path built on kindness, Amanda's journey reminds us that creativity can be both bold and gentle. Through Diary of a Freelancer and the canvases that followed, she speaks to the courage of slowing down, the beauty of trusting curiosity, and the kind of expression that lingers long after the moment.
This conversation isn't about trends or titles - it's about rhythm, colour and what it means to create a life with intention.
Creativity & Intention
Your creative path has taken many forms - from filmmaking to writing to painting. What first drew you to painting, and what keeps you returning to the canvas? What a beautiful question. There was a voice, like a tiny creative itch that wouldn't go away, whispering 'paint big'. It tugged on my mind for weeks until I couldn't ignore it. I'm so glad I followed that curiosity, it has been the biggest plot twist of my life. I genuinely thought I would be making films forever (and still feel the films inside me that I need to make). But once I started painting it was like opening pandora's box, but of play and delight.
The feeling of people choosing my art for their space is almost unfathomable, I still can't really comprehend it's magic. It's definitely otherworldly.
Diary of a Freelancer began as scribbles in the margins of your working life. Do you still see writing as part of your creative practice today? I do. I write every morning with my coffee and the sunrise. Sometimes five words, sometimes five pages of words. It is a practice of pulling the buzzing thoughts in my mind and leaving them on the page. It clears the pipes. Every now and then something clicks into place and I know that those words are not just for me, they go into a second journal that I will draw from for future works.
Do you think of art - whether in words or paint - as a practice of presence? It definitely requires a practice of presence. When I paint time and space disappears, only the canvas exists. It's very mediative.
Style & Self-Expression
Your work began with words but has expanded into bold, colourful canvases. How do you find the balance between restraint and energy in your expression? I've always had a very subdued personal style. Up until my recent trip to Tokyo, my wardrobe was almost entirely without colour. I prefer to play with silhouettes (probably what drew me to WNSDY). So it was a big surprise to me when I started painting and bold colour came out. It's definitely opened up some aliveness in me. I think colour does something to your body as well as your mind. Something wonderful. And I always consider the canvas in a real space, where life is happening. I want the art to sing and not shout.
Is there a through-line between how you live, how you dress, and how you create? I love to distill things down to their basic form. I love ease. So whether I am cooking, dressing, painting, capturing or travelling, I tend to lean on high quality elements that will draw out the slow beauties of life.
When do you feel most yourself - behind the camera, with a pen, or in front of a canvas? They are all different elements of me, all places I find home. Having different mediums that bleed into each other is very enriching.
Identity & Growth
You started out in the fashion world but quickly stepped away from its burnout culture. How did that decision shape your creative voice? It was a pivotal point of clarity in exactly what I didn't want in my career. A lot of my writings actually came from that time. I was looking for the opposite of the culture that I experienced in my fashion internship, a ton of unnecessary competition and zero generosity. I remember crying in the lobby of a big PR company after being yelled at for something I didn't do and an assistant handed me a tissue and a look that says "I know, that's just the way it is". That was the moment that I was done.
I love that now we are seeing a rising of independent designers who are building their brand with wellness, outside of toxic cultures of old world fashion.
Has choosing kindness and slowing down changed the way you see your own identity? Yes absolutely. It brought out so many parts of my personality that had been run over by my own stress state. I started taking things less seriously and my confidence in playfulness really opened up. Surrounding myself with people who are also moving in this pace brought out a lot of my personality.
Do you feel there's a version of yourself you're still becoming? For sure. But also, I'm still catching up with this current version. I really like her, she's finding a good rhythm.
Connection & Culture
Your words and paintings have found homes around the world. What conversations or feeling do you hope your work stirs in people? It's wild to me that my work has stretched so far. I like to imagine all the conversations my art has witnessed and all the peopl who have picked up my book from a friend's coffee table and flipped through. If my art had a taks it would be to cause a little smile. That moment of "it's all going to be ok". Exhale.
How does your environment - from Sydney's Northern Beaches to the places your work travels - shape what you create? The ocean is the ultimate teacher of rhythm. Constant but never the same. Living seaside has taught me how to rejuvenate my imagination after the depletion of creative work. I am lucky enough to have witnessed many sunrises over the ocean horizon from my bedroom window. The alignment of daily and monthly rhythm is everything in creative longevity.
Do you see art as a way of connecting beyond words? I feel like colour can turn a word into a whole cosmos. The shape of the word is just as important to me as its meaning. We speak with different emphasis and expression, I like to think I can show you an attitude with how a word is written or painted.
The Human Experience
What's one lesson you've learned through your creative practice that's changed how you see the world? Play and mastery are two sides of the same coin.
Where do you find hope or renewal when life feels heavy? I feel like my hope lives in the part of me that you'd find if you pulled back every single layer and somehow entered my soul. It's a hidden, undefinable place. Sometimes I'm not listening to it, but it's always there if I clear the clutter.
In your words: what does it mean to live as a Good Human? Love has a pace, it's slow. If ever I find myself without love towards people, whether strangers or the ones closest to me, I know I need to slow down.
Images by Kristen Turner MacDonald.
Amanda wears the Mads Blazer, The Emelie Pant in Black, The Jo Bomber in Nude, the Kim Tank in White, and the Emelie Pant in Natural.