Connecting Indigenous Community Photographies: a transnational case study

The project aims to conduct the first transnational comparison of Indigenous community-controlled photography, exploring Indigenous peoples ways of seeing and documenting their worlds. The project seeks to significantly advance Australian and global understanding of Indigenous vernacular photography through investigating formerly unexplored private collections of images created by Indigenous photographers during the mid 20th Century in four communities across three countries. One of the outcomes of the project is a nuanced visual history that cannot be excavated from other sources. The benefits of this project include public exhibitions, a book, symposiums, and a scholarly anthology that encourages the public connection with the past.