Montana Lower is an Australian artist, model, creative director, content creator, activist and environmental engineer. Her consciousness of the environment and personal well-being inspire thousands of other people every day through her social media. You can feel her light and contagious smile just by looking at her posts!
By Bárbara Perino
Photography Jodi Plumbley
and courtesy of Montana Lower
LEMON Magazine [LEMON] – What are 3 words that define you?
Montana Lower [M.L.] – Today? Passionate. Feral. Free.
[LEMON] – How would you describe your style?
[M.L.] – Quirky. Effortless. Vintage.
[LEMON] – We see a lot of photos of you in nature, sometimes naked. How do you feel in those moments?
[M.L.] – I feel like the version of myself nature always intended. I feel most like myself when I’m naked among the trees with the people I love. Like I am ready to melt into the earth at any given moment, and also ready to bloom when the season allows it. I feel like when we strip away all the noise and connect with the earth, we are able to truly share its energy… And there is nothing more powerful than the Divine Feminine.
[LEMON] – What are the most important values you want to pass on to your child?
[M.L.] – To live in harmony with the earth and with oneself… That’s something she inspires me to do every day.
[LEMON] – Do you have any idols? If so, who are they and why?
[M.L.] – Mothers everywhere. Since starting out on my pregnancy journey, I realised how disgustingly naive I was to everything being a mother entailed. And once I gave birth, I knew I would never look at another mother the same way. Mothers are so overlooked in modern society. If I could, I would look every single mother in the eye and say: “You are doing a fantastic job – just for showing up to this wild initiation.”
[LEMON] – How did you meet your partner, Tom?
[M.L.] – I was actually at a photoshoot. I’ll never forget sitting on that couch: I’d just had my hair and make-up done (I only wear makeup for shoots), and Tom walked through the door with the biggest smile on his face. He’d been roped in to be the ‘male model’ on the day by one of his friends and was this devastatingly perfect balance of shy and polite. I still feel my heart beat in my head when I think about the first time I met him. I thought he wasn’t interested in me because he wouldn’t talk or look at me… I found out later he was just quietly freaking out because he felt exactly the same as I did.
[LEMON] – What is your family morning routine?
[M.L.] – Chaos. We try really hard to stick to Tom waking up with Blue first and taking her to the toilet, then playing for an hour while I get a little more sleep (we still feed all through the night). Then I’ll wake up, we’ll eat some food, have a bath and try to connect to each other while Blue is calm by the water and set a game plan for our day. If this happens most days, I’m stoked.
[LEMON] – How did life change when you became a mum?
[M.L.] – Everything changed. I don’t even recognise myself. To put it simply: before I fell pregnant, I’d just walked away from my engineering career and was basically relying on modelling jobs to come through to support myself. Now I have 3 businesses, a self-converted tiny home on wheels and honestly I feel sorry for anyone who tries to tell me I can’t do something! I’m fiercely protective of my time and energy with Blue and becoming a mother really united me with my inner strength and what I’m truly capable of. I mean, I can create a human being… Everything else feels minuscule in comparison now!
[LEMON] – Best environmental tip?
[M.L.] – Start with your own backyard.
[LEMON] – How do you stay in shape?
[M.L.] – Drink pure water. Eat pure food. Dance with every part of your body (the weirder the better). Always remember to treat yourself – because you deserve it. A healthy mind-set is the best thing you can put into your body. After all, the human body is just a vessel for the spirit.
[LEMON] – Can you tell us your favourite recipe?
[M.L.] – Frozen mango… Tom’s the cook in our house! I basically live off fruit and sourdough when left to my own devices (laughs).
[LEMON] – If you could only use one beauty product for the rest of your life, what would you chose?
[M.L.] – “The Repair – Finger Lime Serum” from my ethical skincare line “Bluem” that’s just launched. No plug intended! It’s my ‘All-in-One’ for the whole family. We use it for everything from hydrating the skin, calming sunburn, aftershave, healing cuts… it’s actually been used as a traditional medicine throughout history, so I can’t take credit for nature’s genius, but I can put it in a bottle!
[LEMON] – What do you like to do to relax?
[M.L.] – Eat some reishi mushrooms, light some incense, put on classical Indian music and stare at nature. My baby Blue has also recently shown me that it’s super relaxing to play with wet sand! (laughs)
[LEMON] – A place you would like to go you have never been before?
[M.L.] – I’ve always wanted to go to Tahiti. But honestly any tropical Island where I don’t speak the native language sounds good to me! I was raised in Fiji so I’m forever craving sweating my ass off in a hammock, cooling off in the ocean and repeat. I love being places that shock my senses everywhere I look and remind me there’s a big wide world out there.
[LEMON] – Do you have any Christmas traditions?
[M.L.] – Having Blue was an opportunity for us to write our own traditions and so we decided we’d cut out the commercialism and focus on what Christmas is really about: FAMILY. We make each other gifts and instead of ‘Secret Santa’ creatively express ourselves in our own unique way about someone who inspired us in the past year. For me last year it was a writer, Hygeia Halfmoon. She wrote this book called “Primal Mothering for the Modern World”… it hit so good.
[LEMON] – Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
[M.L.] – I’ll set the scene: a simple cabin among the trees, another baby or two in hand, tending to the garden… my lover bends down and brushes my hair behind my ear, kissing my shoulder and says “What day is it today, my love?” I look up at the sun, squinting my eyes, and gently reply “I don’t know… who cares?”
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