This image of Luther Cora’s daughter Tedashii Cora is part of a series he shot last year in lockdown. Photograph: Luther Cora
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
Colleen Raven (Strangways) is a South Australian Arabana and Northern Territory Mudbura Warlpiri woman and the founder of Nharla Photography. She is interested in using film, photography and other mediums to represent and preserve First Nations’ stories, languages and cultures. She is also committed to showcasing her culture by telling stories through an Aboriginal lens and to passing on the skills and the knowledge she has learnt over the years to the next generation of emerging artists
Stanley Francis is based in Broome, WA. He shoots mostly landscapes and portraits. This shot of a bull rider named Roy Hester was captured during Broome’s annual Rhythm and Ride event
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’
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’
Talei Elu is a Torres Strait Islander photographer specialising in portraiture and cultural photography and does more corporate work when working with the team at 33 Creative. This image was taken in Talei’s hometown of Seisia in Cape York, Queensland, at the local wharf which is popular spot for both tourists and locals to fish. Violet is often at the wharf in the early mornings and late afternoon
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
‘Our communities are represented in the large circles and are connected by the large straight lines,’ writes Lowell Hunter of this aerial image. ‘These lines connect us all together. In the middle of the design is that one thing inside us that we all have as a common goal’
Wed 9 Feb 2022 03.30 AEDT