Blak Lens: emerging Aboriginal photographers join forces
Blak Lens: emerging Aboriginal photographers join forces – in pictures
A collective of Aboriginal photographers working across different styles launches this week. Formed by Michal Jalaru Torres, Blak Lens aims to provide support for talented photographers across Australia, building a professional and cultural network to amplify each other’s work and to change perceptions
Below is some of our favourite images from the article. For the full article click the button at the bottom of the page
Mullewa
Tamati Smith is a Yamatji – Badimaya, Wajarri and Māori – Ngapuhi man living in Geraldton, Western Australia. He has shot some of the biggest events around Australia, including the AFL grand final. This image shows Smith’s mother walking down a street in Mullewa with her siblings’ grandchildren – by extension, in the Yamatji way, they are her grandchildren, too. This image captures a memory that could be forgotten: it enables the elders in the frame to be remembered long after they have gone
Baby Luca
Bobbi Lockyer is a Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru woman born and based on Kariyarra country in Port Hedland. Working across fine art paintings, photography, illustration and graphic design, she was awarded the 2021 Naidoc artist of the year award, and is an official creator for Nikon Australia. She specialises in creating traditional Aboriginal family and baby images, as well as high-end fashion and editorial photography, and leads art and photography workshops to pass her skills on to others
Mandy Smith is a Barkindji Woman born and raised in Mildura, Victoria. She specialises in Australian native bird photography, creative light painting, astrophotography and landscapes. ‘I wanted to create a dark and mystical image and incorporated the light painting into it,’ she says of this self-portrait. ‘It was taken on a salt flat’
A Moment of Silence
Tace Stevens captures summer holiday swimming in the Gascoyne River, Canarvon. ‘This photo features my niece, Tirali, who frequently appears in my work. This photo was inspired by Jeremy Snell’s series, Boys of Volta, which had a profound impact on me. I’ve lived in Sydney for the last nine years, so every time I see my nieces and nephews so much and so little has changed. Each childhood is fleeting and I wanted to capture a moment of reflection and of silence’
