Gallery: TAP Gallery  |  278 Palmer Street |  Darlinghurst

13 – 25 May  |  Monday to Saturday 12– 6pm  |  Sunday 12 –4pm

Opening night by Julie McCrossin  |  Tuesday 13 May, 6-8 pm

Launch of FRANS Families photo book at the official opening

Curated by Sandy Edwards of Arthere

I am pleased to participate in Head On Photo Festival (for more information on the festival click here), the largest photography festival in Australia, as an associated artist. Returning to Sydney in 2014, the festival boasts a comprehensive program to be presented between 12th May and 8th June, showcasing a diverse range of photographers.

I am fascinated with people and have a genuine desire to understand them deeply.  I am inspired to make positive images of socially disadvantaged people from sectors of society that are often discriminated against or ignored. My aim is to improve community perceptions by presenting difficult issues with sensitivity, dignity and respect using the genres of portraiture and social concern documentary.

Little attention has been paid to photographing people with disabilities.  In the early 1970s Diane Arbus’s images of people with intellectual disabilities were made at a time when institutions were closing and implementing programs to return patients to the community.  Disability became more visible in society.  Attitudes to people with disabilities have slowly improved since then.  They are now represented as part of society.

This latest series of images document the circumstances and social interactions of a group of families living with disabilities. I wish to encourage changes to societal norms by showing the achievements and challenges faced by the people in my photographs.