Ali Cobby Eckermann (b. 1963), Yankunytjatjara/Kothaka author and poet, was adopted as a baby in Melbourne and ran away to Central Australia as a teenager. After studying creative writing in Alice Springs, Cobby Eckermann published her first collection of poetry, Little Bit Long Time, in 2009, followed by His Father's Eyes (2011) and Ruby Moonlight (2012), which won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for poetry and was named the book of the year at the 2013 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Her memoir Too Afraid to Cry (2013) and poetry collection Inside my Mother (2015) explored her trauma and journey to reconnect with her family and culture. Lionel Fogarty (b. 1958), Yugambeh/Kudjela poet and activist, became involved in Indigenous rights in the early 1970s, working with the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal Housing Service, campaigning for land rights and protesting against Aboriginal deaths in custody – his eighteen-year-old brother, Daniel, died in police custody in Brisbane in 1993. Fogarty's first collection of poetry, Kargun, was published in 1980, and he has since published a further twelve volumes. His politically charged poems are interweaved with Indigenous languages and reflect his love for his people and Country.
During a visit to the Hawkesbury River home of their friends, photographer Juno Gemes and poet Robert Adamson, Cobby Eckermann and Fogarty were photographed by Gemes near Cheero Point.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2021
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