Lots of questions are brewing in amongst my photographic work, prompted by an inspiring portraiture job that went above and beyond to value place-based representation of individuals and community in Australia.

I’ve been asking myself: How do people feel about their identity, privacy and representation in relation to photographs for public viewing? Could people be comfortable with third-party use of images? How can we better manage to ensure diverse representation of people and place, across media?

The MBRC RADF Continue Creating grant I received has provided financial support during these quieter times to explore these questions, develop ideas and to create new work.

I developed a survey to explore the questions above and used this when taking portraits of people in the region. I’ve also been having informal, open-ended discussions with people around image handling and sharing of personal information.

The answers to the survey left me with plenty to consider in terms of the ethics and consent for use of images/ portraits of people.

I’m excited to follow this thread and begin work on a portraiture collection I’ve been dreaming of. I’ll keep sharing the process as I go

Pictured above is the first woman I photographed as part of this project:

Rebecca Henderson-Harris, currently living in the Moreton Bay Region. From Ngiyampaa mob in Western NSW. 44 years of age. Image created in August 2020. Image available for use with conditions.