Exposure - New Voices in Australian Photography
Exposure - New Voices in Australian Photography (Exposure) is a
First Nations photographic mentoring program founded in 2018 by Perth Centre for Photography in partnership with independent curator and artist Glenn Iseger-Pilkington.
Exposure provided critical mentoring for Aboriginal artists and arts workers from across remote Western Australia, many of whom work in remote art centres.
In bringing artists together with other professionals working in photographic, filmic and curatorial practices, the workshops encouraged participants to find new ways to share stories while also providing important opportunities to develop new skills and approaches to photography.
Exposure 3.0
Mary-Lou Divilli, Maria Fredricks, Shirley Nuria Jadai, Maria Maraltadj
New Voices in Australian Photography
Perth (PCP) Dates xxxxxxxx
Exposure: New Voices in Australian Photography, has created space for the voices and images of four Aboriginal women from different regions of the northwest of Western Australia. Each artist offers a unique view of the world - their voices amplified through the lenses of their cameras.
Nuriah Jadai, Maria Fredericks, Maria Maraltadj, and Mary-Lou Divilli are much more than documentary makers, although the significance of that tradition should never be understated. With cameras, these women continue the tradition of storytelling across millennia. They have reclaimed space and a practice that has historically ‘othered’ Aboriginal people.
These artists have provided a portal into their lives as Aboriginal women living remotely in Australia. Accessibility to their ancient living cultures is challenged daily. But they have found solace in their photography which helps them stay connected to Country, to their family and to themselves. Their resilience is palpable.
Whilst the narratives strongly relate to the complexities of identity and the impact of ongoing colonialism, Maria Fredericks, Mary-Lou Divilli, Nuriah Jadai, and Maria Maraltadj have opened their hearts and minds, challenging audiences, and offering them messages of healing, hope, and a way forward.
New Voices in Australian Photography acknowledges the special place that Aboriginal women hold in this world - as holders of knowledge which sustains life, to be passed on to future generations; as custodians of Creation stories that connect us to our ancestors, as people with a voice and something important to say, and as caretakers of Mother Earth.
Michelle Broun, Curator, Creative Producer, and Researcher, Yindjibarndi residing on Whadjuk Nyungar Boodja
de centre re centre
15 Feb - 3 May 2025
An national group exhibition by Perth Centre for Photography in collaboration with Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery as part of the Perth Festival 2025.
de-centre re-centre highlights the strength and diversity of contemporary photography in Australia. Deploying and disrupting conventions of portraiture and landscape, the selected artists explore place and belonging in First Nations, diasporic and queer communities. Employing a range of practices including staged image making, analogue processes, and video, the featured artists present counter narratives to marginalisation. Their artworks assert the presence and centrality of their subjects whilst deftly navigating the politics of visibility; exploring strategies for survival, bearing witness, care and resistance.
Artists include: Ramak Bamzar, Torika Bolatagici, Miriam Charlie, Brenda L Croft, Gerwyn Davies, Mary-Lou Divilli, Amos Gerbhardt, Simryn Gill, Taloi Havini, Naomi Hobson, Nuriah Jadai, Kyle Archie Knight, Maria Maraltadj, Sherry Quiambao, Scotty So, Tace Stevens
Exposure 2.0
Clayton Cherel, Justina Clement, Maria Fredricks, Shirley Nuria Jadai, Maria Maraltadj, Wendy Nanji, Kristabell Porter, Tegan Riley, Ignatius Taylor, Cecilia Umbagai, Corban Clause Williams.
Perth 04 April – 09 May 2021
Rotterdam 6 – 27 November 2021
Transitions by the Perth Centre for Photography in collaboration with the Rotterdam Photo Festival.
Transition through concepts of the 21st century, where regression and progression come to a head. Transition through the resilience of First Nations Australians, countering historical misrepresentation and reclaiming their narrative through photographic practice. Transition through notions of time and geographical significance, with an exploration of space, place, and memory.
RECLAIMED by the Exposure Collective highlights the ubiquitous nature of photography and the continued significance of self-representation amongst First Nations artists in Australia. The exhibition features contemporary portraiture presented alongside inherited cultural narratives by artists from the Exposure Collective, which is comprised of First Nations Artists from remote communities across Western Australia.
The exhibition offers a counter-voice to the historical misrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, a practice continued today by the mainstream media. Together, these works speak to hope, autonomy, resilience and cultural inheritance, challenging the narrative that has been shared with the world about Indigenous Australia historically and in the here and now.
Exposure 1.0
Clayton Cherel, Justina Clement, Maria Fredricks, Shirley Nuria Jadai, Maria Maraltadj, Wendy Nanji, Kristabell Porter, Tegan Riley, Ignatius Taylor, Cecilia Umbagai, Corban Clause Williams.
TRANSITIONS - RECLAIMED
Perth 4 April – 9 May | Rotterdam 6 – 27 November
An international group exhibition by Perth Centre for Photography in collaboration with the Rotterdam Photo Festival.
Transition through concepts of the 21st century, where regression and progression come to a head. Transition through the resilience of First Nations Australians, countering historical misrepresentation and reclaiming their narrative through photographic practice. Transition through notions of time and geographical significance, with an exploration of space, place, and memory.
RECLAIMED by the Exposure Collective highlights the ubiquitous nature of photography and the continued significance of self-representation amongst First Nations artists in Australia. The exhibition features contemporary portraiture presented alongside inherited cultural narratives by artists from the Exposure Collective, which is comprised of First Nations Artists from remote communities across Western Australia.
The exhibition offers a counter-voice to the historical misrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, a practice continued today by the mainstream media. Together, these works speak to hope, autonomy, resilience and cultural inheritance, challenging the narrative that has been shared with the world about Indigenous Australia historically and in the here and now.
TRANSITIONS - RECLAIMED
Perth 4 April – 9 May | Rotterdam 6 – 27 November
An international group exhibition by Perth Centre for Photography in collaboration with the Rotterdam Photo Festival.
Transition through concepts of the 21st century, where regression and progression come to a head. Transition through the resilience of First Nations Australians, countering historical misrepresentation and reclaiming their narrative through photographic practice. Transition through notions of time and geographical significance, with an exploration of space, place, and memory.
RECLAIMED by the Exposure Collective highlights the ubiquitous nature of photography and the continued significance of self-representation amongst First Nations artists in Australia. The exhibition features contemporary portraiture presented alongside inherited cultural narratives by artists from the Exposure Collective, which is comprised of First Nations Artists from remote communities across Western Australia.
The exhibition offers a counter-voice to the historical misrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, a practice continued today by the mainstream media. Together, these works speak to hope, autonomy, resilience and cultural inheritance, challenging the narrative that has been shared with the world about Indigenous Australia historically and in the here and now.
Exposure New Voices in Australian Photography has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, supported by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, and the Westpac Foundation. PCP’s ongoing annual program of exhibitions and projects is supported by The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).