Bella Loke on Movement, Community and the Nike Air Max Dn…

In Melbourne’s vibrant creative scene, Bella Loke has emerged as a distinctive voice whose journey from amateur photographer to full-time creative director demonstrates the power of artistic evolution. Nike recently tapped Bella to create a multi-disciplinary exhibition celebrating their new Air Max Dn8 sneaker for Air Max Day 2025 celebrations. 

Titled We Move Together, the project brings together diverse artists including filmmaker Ben J. Read, who’s co-directing a freestyle dance short film with Bella, fashion designer Jaida The Creator, painter Tyron Tran and designers Doc G and Connor May to explore different dimensions of movement in homage to the Air Max Dn8, a fresh silhouette designed for flow, sensation and motion. 

With the Air Max Dn8, Nike’s goal was to apply the same technical innovation that goes into their elite performance shoes to create a bold new silhouette built for all-day style. It represents Nike’s latest chapter in cushioning innovation, featuring Dynamic Air technology that extends the full length of the foot through two Air units and the eight tubes that give it its name. The shoe’s strong form, inspired by fluidity and movement, makes it an ideal canvas for creative interpretation.

Bella’s exhibition embodies her philosophy that creativity gains meaning through community and collaboration. “The reason I am where I am today is because of the people I’ve met along the way, and this exhibition is an extension of that,” she tells Complex AU, saying it’s a chance to amplify the visions of some of her friends and day ones within her creative community.

It helps that, since Air Max Day launched on March 26, 2014, Nike has gone all in on cultural experimentation. Bella says she’s been empowered by an open-ended brief that encouraged her to take risks and try new things creatively. “Nike is pushing the boundaries when it comes to Air Max Day,” Bella says, “and the cool thing is that they’re showcasing creatives—because obviously Nike embodies sports and movement, and everybody’s an athlete—but being able to showcase creativity through motion and flow is incredible. Honestly, Air Max Day is just this great chance to make noise for the culture. “And it brings everybody together. It brings together a community of kids who love repping Air Max—it’s a monumental thing.”Keen to learn more, we caught up with Bella to learn about her creative approach and the collaborative process behind her ambitious Nike project.

How did you first get into photography and how has that evolved? 

I picked up a camera at the end of 2018 at a church event, then got into street photography during COVID—city vibes, candids of people walking, that classic urbex feel. 

When I tried turning photography into a job, I was like, ‘What’s a way I can do this?’ I’d always been a sports kid—I’d played tennis since I was super young and always loved basketball. So I reached out to every basketball organisation in my area to see if they needed a season photographer. That’s how I fell into Summer Jam, and that’s how I met the Nike Australia team. 

How did you get into directing? 

I worked full-time for a creative director in Melbourne from 2022 to 2023. This led to OneHouse Productions and my now co-director Ben J. Read. That’s how I first started being on film sets—learning what a gaffer does, what an AC [assistant camera] does, how pre-production works.

Ben and I always say we launched our directing careers together. I remember one time a friend reached out for photos and I was like, ‘Oh, this would be cool as video.’ In my brain, it was never a crazy step to want to be a director. But I only started directing by myself at the start of last year. I hustled really hard to make that leap. 

How would you describe your signature creative style? 

It’s funny, I was talking to someone on the weekend and they were like, ‘Your style is so distinct.’ I was like, actually, tell me—because when you’re in it, it’s really hard to see. I love my blue tones, I love cool tones, but my distinct style comes from a feeling. If I’m making someone feel a certain way, I’m probably doing something right. 

My storytelling takes inspiration from movies. It’s got this raw feeling: simple cuts, beautiful composition—the composition element comes from being a photographer at heart. I respect people who do crazy techniques, transitions and VFX, but my brain doesn’t work that way. I aim for clear storytelling, using personal or worldly experiences to tell a short-form story that feels movie-esque. Anything that feels raw and authentic.

Why are community, culture and collaboration so important to your work? 

People are the reason I do anything I do. In 2022 I held my first exhibition called 1 in 11, where I shot portraits of 11 people and got them to write about self-expression and why community is important to them. We raised money for Headspace, showing how community and self-expression contributes to mental health.

For this new exhibition I’m working with some really good friends to create beautiful pieces showcasing their self-expression, style and art—how they see things—and pulling it together as part of my world.

Obviously self-expression is important, and it feeds my soul, but being able to share it with people makes it even more special. That’s the beautiful thing about art—knowing that somewhere, someone is being inspired and touched by whatever we create.

How did the opportunity to work with Nike come about? And how is it working with the Nike team?

It’s been awesome. Nike Australia hit me up around October last year. They showed me what they were working on—the very beginning stages of pitching it to Nike global for Air Max Day. They were like, ‘Would you be interested?’ Of course I kept my cool and calmly was like, ‘Yeah, I’d be interested.’ But internally I was screaming. So I got this amazing open brief to take inspiration from the new Air Max Dn8—with the background of the Dn8 being movement and experimentation—and do whatever I could come up with.

Recently they flew me to Bangkok to meet a bunch of other international creatives involved in Air Max Day and the global Dn8 launch. It was called Station 8—eight creatives from Mexico, Japan, Korea and Thailand. It was sick getting to link up, and I did my first-ever photo shoot for the SNKRS app, which was crazy, as well as speaking on a panel. We packed so much into just four days.

Let’s talk more about the Air Max Dn8. It’s a wild silhouette, a physical manifestation of flow, sensation and motion. What were your first impressions?When I first saw it I thought, ‘This shoe’s hectic. It’s loud. It’s bold. The colours are bold.’ My personal style is I wear a lot of black, but I do love my bold colours—I love a royal blue and a hot pink. I’m really hoping to get the blue Dn8s that are coming out a bit later, because I would love to rep those to my exhibition.

I love it on foot; it’s so comfortable. And with the eight air bubbles it plays a lot with movement and experimentation—incorporating it into the exhibition has been seamless. It’s not even something I have to think about. 

Tell us about your We Move Together exhibition concept. 

In my initial pitch deck to Nike, I broke down the different definitions of movement. One is actual physical movement, showcased in our hero video ‘We Move Together’—imagine a black void, eight dancers freestyling, with styling correlating to the bold colours of the shoes. And then there’s movement as growth—pushing yourself in different ways, building yourself up and moving upward onto new things.I’m working with a bunch of my friends who have been there from day one or who inspire me, and there’s different levels of collaboration. The video I’ve worked on with Ben is heavily collaborative. But with Tyron and Jaida The Creator, who are doing paintings and fashion pieces it’s more like submerging myself in their worlds—seeing how they interpret the brief while I capture them in the process.

The human-sized gumball machine that Doc G, Connor and I have created is a translucent pink machine, embodying the shape of the Dn8 air bubble with a chromed-out base. It also has capsules containing key rings of a character we’ve designed called Doc Air. We’ll also have 3D-printed Doc Air characters created by Jericho Marcel in and around the installation. 

Jaida’s fashion pieces take inspiration from the human system—our bones and muscles that move us—and upcycle Nike apparel to create one-off designs. Tyron’s paintings are inspired by movement, the human figure and the shoe itself. I’m also doing a book of all the images I’ve taken throughout the process—Polaroids, film and digital photos.

Since it began in 2014, Air Max Day has come to celebrate cultural innovation and experimentation—the same traits embodied by these radical sneakers themselves. How do you see that relationship working between Nike and creatives like yourself? 

Nike is always doing amazing stuff with creatives, like their global campaign for the Dn8 working with star names like Gabriel Moses to capture the shoe on athletes but bring their own artistic vision to that. Because of the impact that Air Max has in the art, culture and fashion spaces, it’s a great way to intersect everything. It’s awesome the stuff Nike is choosing to do with the day, to use it as a pillar to do big things for people and the community.

To shop the new Nike Air Max Dn8, click here.