Dorothy (Tudley) Delaney was the elder sister of Michael Riley's close friends, John and Raelene, and an administrator at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative where Riley shot his Portraits by a Window series. She went on to work with various Aboriginal community organisations, including The Settlement, a neighbourhood centre run by the University of Sydney in Darlington, as a youth worker and in drug and alcohol outreach for Aboriginal teenagers.
For the photo shoot, Riley requested that Delaney wear 1920s period clothing, rather than her usual leggings and t-shirt. In the photograph she wears a dark dress and hat, with a crucifix hanging around her neck. The cross became a recurring motif in Riley's later work, particularly in his 1992 photographic series Sacrifice.
Purchased 2013
© Michael Riley/Copyright Agency, 2022
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