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Today, I'm very lucky to be able to introduce you
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to John Tsiavis who's gonna be in conversation
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with our curator, Penny Grist.
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John and penny welcome
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and thank you so much for joining us.
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Thank you.
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Thanks to you.
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Now this is a very exciting programme for me
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because I get to catch up with one of the photographers
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who I met when I first started working
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at the Portrait Gallery.
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So I first met John in 2014
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when I was putting together
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a show called Promo Portraits from Prime Time.
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And it's been really fantastic to reconnect with John
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who's been all sorts of places
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since we were working on that show together.
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Should we just dive right in, John?
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Yeah, bring it up.
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So what we're gonna do today is
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we're gonna take you through a little bit of
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an outline of John's career few works from the collection,
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but we're really gonna focus on what John's been doing
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in the last sort of 10 years,
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and then the last sort of two and three years
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as he's been working in LA and in Mexico.
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So that's where we're gonna go with this.
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It's gonna be quite a journey so let's crack on.
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So John, let's just...
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give way of background and a bit of introduction.
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Let's just talk about the beginning
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of your career as a photographer.
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Sure, so I taught myself photography at a high school
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because I wanted to get into an advertising course,
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but I didn't get into that course.
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And they recommended that I go
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to the advertising photography course as the whole.
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I went in and I was lucky enough to have been accepted
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but I kind of always,
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I had the intentions to swap over
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and go back into advertising.
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But once I really kind of was able to shoot every day
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and experience, well I got to work as a photographer
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with shooters photographer.
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I just kinda found that became my passion and my love.
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So, and from there I was approached by James Scott
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who had just produced shine
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to be an unset stills photographer for her film head on.
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And so that was a real...
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Yeah, so that was in 1997 while I was at university.
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And let's put up Robert,
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let's bring up that image, that staff.
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Yeah, these family.
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So tell us about this image
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and how that this was important in your career John?
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Right, so this was shot
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for my first year university project.
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So a family portrait,
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so it was shot at my grandmother's garage
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and so I get a little emotional because we've lost
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a few people in my family over the last couple of years,
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so yeah sorry.
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Well, we shot it...
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Sorry I've got a little thrown.
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So Jane saw this portrait and then thought
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that it would be great to represent the great families
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that were in her film.
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And jump over to the next one Robert
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while we're there.
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Tell us about the link between, I suppose, that moment
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and Jane seeing that portrait from your uni,
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like from while you were still at uni
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and this portrait which is one of my favourites
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in the national Portrait Gallery Collection
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of writer, Christos Tsiolkas.
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Tell us how that those two ideas connected.
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Well, I shot head on during my second year of uni
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and I was given that it was an open project
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to be able to shoot whatever we wanted
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for our third year project.
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So I decided to reconnect with everyone that worked
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on the film and that loaded Christos book kind
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of meant a lot to me.
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So I approached him who was living in Canberra at the time
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and he gave me an afternoon where he just come out
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and hung out with me for a day.
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I asked him how we want it to be represented.
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And he threw me some references
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and one of them was a Fassbender's corral.
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And so I thought there was all that coloured light
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and there was a kind of there's a danger it's those images
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and also to what I guess the his novel
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and also head on as well.
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And so I shot this on my own
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and it's kind of funny because the image on the right has,
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I don't know if you could say those are red bounce board
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and I had a shooting that through some netting
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and that my hand that's my...
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the shadows of my hand against his face.
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So I don't know how I did it
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but I was somehow casting a shadow
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and shooting at the same time.
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Ooh that's brilliant, how did you know about this?
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Its only live shoot Penny.
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(laughs)
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So let's take a little bit of a step
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through the next few stayed like
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the next little bit of your career.
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So that introduction to like,
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I suppose, entertainment practise
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in photography from head-on went on to other things,
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should we flip through the next few slides?
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So yeah, take us through the next little bit
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of your career there.
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So it was kind of lucky enough to have...
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I was lucky enough to have met a lot of people
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who then when chopper was being made.
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And that was, I think that we shot that in 1999,
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I was there was the same distributors.
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And so I was called up,
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I just finished uni and I was really unsure
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about actually kind of wanting to shoot on a chopper film.
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I didn't actually know how that was gonna work out,
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but it actually then ended up being the image
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that really kind of made my career,
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that image became running and it's quite an iconic film.
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And so from that,
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it really helped me along to open doors
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for me in the Australian film industry.
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So I was lucky enough to have shot head-on chopper
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and then worked on the TV show, a separate life of us.
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And they were my first three jobs,
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which I think that kind of piqued my Australian film career
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'cause it was... I worked with quite a few films,
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which weren't kind of as good.
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And jump over two Robert, the rover as well.
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The Rover I think was also,
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that was actually one of the last films I shot
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in the Australian desert before I left
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for America nine years ago.
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And that was a really great experience
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because I'd worked on Dagny shards, film, animal kingdom.
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I did some work with them and they gave me again
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an open brief where they said, just come for two days,
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do whatever you like.
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And the image on the right was actually
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the view out of my hotel room.
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And that was the morning light with guide peers
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and I think it was only like one frame of him walking away.
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Wow! So this is what's called chaot
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for film and you go on set
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and you shoot this or do special studio shoots
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while the film is being made.
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Can I just ask it's how has that work doing that work
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and especially so early in your career affected
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your style as a photographer?
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Well, I guess working on with working with actors
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and in that kind of high pressure environment,
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your guess you have to be really decisive,
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really have to understand the scenes, what the intention is.
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And it also still should also tell an Emmy a story.
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And so that's really carried on through my work,
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whether it's the way I direct a fashion shoot,
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the way I shoot my portraits it's yeah,
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but I kind of everything comes from an idea
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or a concept or a story.
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And I think that's really that's so
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in the images we'll keep saying
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and in your work that's something that's it's really clear.
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It's really come through as an integral part
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of how you approach portraiture.
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Robert, let's just go into it.
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We just put this one in done because people (mumbles) fans,
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so also your work across television, this was a great,
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a great favourite among visitors to the online
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and the real life love stories exhibition recently.
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So thanks to you for that one.
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Let's just maybe Robert into the next one.
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This is one of your put photographic portrait prize entries
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because we're celebrating the ratio
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of the living memory,
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national photographic portrait prize for this year.
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Just take us through the process and how it felt to,
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I suppose do a portrait photograph of a iconic photographer.
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Yeah, well,
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I was actually commissioned by art bank
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to take her Petty's portrait.
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She was living in Los Angeles
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and you know, I've always grown up
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with Polly's portraiture or photography, I should say.
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So it was a bit of an intimidating experience,
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I went up to her house and she's a lover of fashion.
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So I think the first thing we did was just go
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through Polly's wardrobe and so I guess that's kind of like,
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what I love about being a photographer
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is that you just get invited into people's worlds sometimes.
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And this was actually interesting.
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A lot of my work has changed
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so much in the way that I approach it.
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I used to always, I think I came from the 90s'
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I think was so much about everything
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was about lighting everything
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and now more about natural light.
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So this was actually a light spilling
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through Polly's kitchen, but through a skylight.
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And so I wanted to kind of play with the idea
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of creating her into being a sculpture.
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And that was the choice of her clothes, her clothes,
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and you know, also her gestures movement
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and the choice of the chair.
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Oh, that's interesting.
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Interesting choice to sort of in a way of recognising
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that sort of iconic status of that artists too.
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In now we're just going to share two of our other favourites
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from the collection before we move off on your travels.
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So Robert, can you pull up the Jacki Weaver
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and the Tanle?
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Just tell us, tell us about taking this portrait
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of you know, incredible another icon.
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Well, again, it was one of those experiences
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where to be asked to shoot something feet,
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to be commissioned by you guys for the 2020 exhibition
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was like a career highlight for me.
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So I took it so seriously
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and also to take someone's portrait for
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it is a huge responsibility that I feel
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how I represent somebody.
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And it was hard because shooting an actors portrait
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that doesn't belong any way
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or isn't in context with a character
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just is really hard.
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who is an actor, if they're not in a fashion magazine
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or how do you approach that portrait?
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So for me it was wanting to,
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I guess it was about how to set the same way with Jacki
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and photograph her.
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I couldn't give her a character to play.
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I just didn't really know how to do it.
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So for me, it was actually kind of idea.
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I wanted something really dramatic Shakespearian.
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I worked with Jacki on animal kingdom
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and I know I felt the power of her presence.
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So that was something I really wanted to represent
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and capture, but it was it's actually
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a really intense image.
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And we all like to...
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it was like, I guess it is flatter.
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I hope it's flattering, but it was really kind of harsh.
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And I did have other images that I wanted to present to her,
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but this was the one that I connected with the most.
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And it was really amazing.
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'Cause I was nervous when I met up with her
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and we had lunch together
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and I had talked way too much as I do.
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My partner just said to just shut up, John,
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show us the photo.
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And they were both really excited when they saw it.
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Over to the next one as well.
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So this was another one of you will works
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for that same exhibition.
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Tanle, very different career,
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very different achievements
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that you were representing there.
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And this is a work that really has
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to be seen in the flesh, isn't it?
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It's quite an experimental work sculpturally for you.
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Yeah, I wanted this to be a bit more experiential.
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I knew that people would engage with Jacki's portrait
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and also knowing there's another 19 amazing Australians
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being represented in the exhibition.
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I wanted people to really stand in front of town's portrait
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and take it in.
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So I kind of divide...
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I worked with a lot working with collaborate,
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like in collaboration.
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So I brought in three or four other people to work with
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and so I found an Australian scientist,
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which has created so like a new mirror, a sub material,
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which we covered a Lightbox in and then used like
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a security screens that you see often on screen
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on what it is saying in a bank that's very American.
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It's not very Australian, they receive one,
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but yeah, so you had to actually start
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in front of the portrait and then it's a mirror.
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So you also look at yourself when you look at her.
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And that was kind of about touching on tonnes
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of my experience in Australia
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and the way we went to the same high school
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we found out when we met up in San Francisco
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and we both experienced quite a bit of racism.
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She had was at the school on a scholarship
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and had to leave because of the racism she faced.
293
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Yeah, it's interesting.
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Those conversations that you must have
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with your subjects as you're working through their portrait.
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And so I think it's something
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that connects really, really fascinating,
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00:13:50.010 --> 00:13:51.890
a really fascinating way to the later parts
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of your career as well,
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to the more recent work you've been doing
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in terms of filmmaking we'll see later.
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Let's keep travelling on because we've
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what happened next, John, if we got...
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if Robert has that next lot of slides,
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00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:14.560
we can look at the work you did that kind of crosses
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00:14:14.560 --> 00:14:18.760
that fine art, commercial practise of yours.
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00:14:18.760 --> 00:14:21.840
And tell us a little bit about these images.
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00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.490
Well, I guess we discussed,
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do you wanna meet her to present
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00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:29.290
some images that were instrumental to me in my career?
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00:14:29.290 --> 00:14:30.610
And this was a series of images
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00:14:30.610 --> 00:14:33.640
that I worked in collaboration with an art director
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who would put on gay potluck parties
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that were geared towards gay men.
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00:14:38.020 --> 00:14:42.660
And we really wanted to shift what is seen
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as those desirable images
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or those images that engage with men that
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00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:49.740
were always kind of beefcake really basic images.
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So these were to advertise parties.
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And so we created, just went off
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00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:59.740
and created these art series that really shifted my work
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00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:04.740
from a commercial to then kind of being recognised more in
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I guess, in the art world.
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And I tell you, take it a little again
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00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:11.314
for people to just look at my work differently.
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00:15:11.314 --> 00:15:13.510
It's like three, the next few of these folks,
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00:15:13.510 --> 00:15:16.120
they are very much like tell us
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00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.330
about how that those two sides
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00:15:19.330 --> 00:15:21.344
of your practise interact for you.
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How do you feel about those different elements
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00:15:25.390 --> 00:15:26.347
of what you do?
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00:15:27.210 --> 00:15:29.040
I love being able to do it, any everything.
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00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:31.703
So, I mean, give me like, I love portraiture.
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00:15:33.040 --> 00:15:36.980
That's, I know how people I'm very instinctual,
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00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:39.190
but give me a fridge or a car or an object
336
00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:40.990
I have no idea how to photograph it.
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00:15:41.930 --> 00:15:44.030
So by shooting,
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00:15:44.030 --> 00:15:47.038
by merging my commercial work with my artwork
339
00:15:47.038 --> 00:15:49.610
is really important to me because it feeds
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00:15:49.610 --> 00:15:53.200
into each other where my commercial work
341
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.090
has allowed me to be a working photographer
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00:15:55.090 --> 00:15:56.633
for 26 years now.
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00:15:57.680 --> 00:16:00.820
It then allows me to go off and invest my time
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00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:04.420
and my money into creating my aunt artwork
345
00:16:04.420 --> 00:16:07.273
that then in turn cycles into,
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00:16:08.150 --> 00:16:12.820
I guess, inspiring or connecting with say art directors
347
00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:16.083
or other people who would then hire me commercially,
348
00:16:17.060 --> 00:16:18.190
this is a really interesting image.
349
00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:21.330
This is another really wonderful time
350
00:16:21.330 --> 00:16:23.947
I had just finished the beige trough shoot.
351
00:16:23.947 --> 00:16:28.300
And Phillip Tracy approached us who was coming to Melbourne,
352
00:16:28.300 --> 00:16:29.937
it would've been probably 10 years ago now for the,
353
00:16:29.937 --> 00:16:31.127
not for Melbourne cup.
354
00:16:31.127 --> 00:16:33.610
And I got a call from his PR agent saying,
355
00:16:33.610 --> 00:16:34.443
he really loves your work.
356
00:16:34.443 --> 00:16:36.010
Can you please meet you?
357
00:16:36.010 --> 00:16:37.060
So he turned up to the studio
358
00:16:37.060 --> 00:16:39.810
and we had just finished shooting the trough images.
359
00:16:39.810 --> 00:16:42.440
And we had made all those masks and props and everything,
360
00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.530
and he turned up for what we thought he was gonna come by
361
00:16:45.530 --> 00:16:46.363
for a drop-in.
362
00:16:46.363 --> 00:16:47.560
And he didn't say he left after
363
00:16:47.560 --> 00:16:49.080
I think he was there for six hours.
364
00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:52.840
We then became really good friends and he wanted me
365
00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:55.260
to work with him to art director, fashion shoot.
366
00:16:55.260 --> 00:16:58.251
And so I struck a deal that if I did that,
367
00:16:58.251 --> 00:17:01.400
he would give me a day of his time and his hats.
368
00:17:01.400 --> 00:17:04.160
And so my team or our friends,
369
00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:05.960
we all got together and pull the shoot together.
370
00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:07.753
And I'm really proud of it because yeah,
371
00:17:07.753 --> 00:17:10.910
I mean, all the objects are found objects, plastic
372
00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:12.587
and it was just a little fun moments
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00:17:12.587 --> 00:17:15.360
to have been to had with people.
374
00:17:15.360 --> 00:17:16.550
That is a stunning image.
375
00:17:16.550 --> 00:17:18.180
It sounds like that one's a bit popular
376
00:17:18.180 --> 00:17:19.670
among our guests as well.
377
00:17:19.670 --> 00:17:22.490
Now, how did the series laid to you going to LA?
378
00:17:22.490 --> 00:17:24.699
There's a connection there isn't it?
379
00:17:24.699 --> 00:17:28.650
Well, do you mean say like from trough
380
00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:33.567
or no, I kind of guess it kind of LA got bit
381
00:17:34.580 --> 00:17:37.130
to the states was always on the cards.
382
00:17:37.130 --> 00:17:41.390
And so I was kind of had lived my life, my partner
383
00:17:41.390 --> 00:17:44.910
and I to be able to kind of split in a couple of weeks.
384
00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:47.440
And that's what happened when I agents signed me
385
00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.340
and we pretty much packed up within like a month
386
00:17:50.340 --> 00:17:52.160
and we were gone.
387
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.920
So we, yeah, we've been there for now for nine years.
388
00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:57.440
And so I living there,
389
00:17:57.440 --> 00:17:59.380
it's kind of opened up my work
390
00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:00.480
in ways I didn't ever think,
391
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:01.830
I was kind of considered myself here
392
00:18:01.830 --> 00:18:03.480
as an entertainment photographer
393
00:18:04.610 --> 00:18:08.270
but over there I had to start from scratch.
394
00:18:08.270 --> 00:18:11.150
I couldn't give my photography away for free at times
395
00:18:11.150 --> 00:18:14.590
I would approach publicists or anyone.
396
00:18:14.590 --> 00:18:15.650
And it was just so hard,
397
00:18:15.650 --> 00:18:17.213
it was pretty hard Like it took probably about two years
398
00:18:17.213 --> 00:18:19.690
to just kind of start getting some traction.
399
00:18:19.690 --> 00:18:21.240
And I've been lucky,
400
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.559
I've kind of done some amazing TV and film work,
401
00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:26.350
but what it did open up was
402
00:18:26.350 --> 00:18:27.580
it allowed me to be a fashion.
403
00:18:27.580 --> 00:18:29.690
Like I've shot more fashion there than I ever did here.
404
00:18:29.690 --> 00:18:34.550
It just allowed me to kind of get a start from scratch
405
00:18:34.550 --> 00:18:38.283
and just find my new groove in my get it.
406
00:18:39.590 --> 00:18:41.960
Let's take a look at some of those images Robert,
407
00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:42.960
starting with...
408
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.800
So this is some a bit more of your entertainment work in LA?
409
00:18:45.800 --> 00:18:48.800
So this is for a TV show called Chicago fire.
410
00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:51.550
So part of that would be doing the poster shooting
411
00:18:51.550 --> 00:18:53.130
each of the individual shots.
412
00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:54.704
So, it doesn't matter what it is to me.
413
00:18:54.704 --> 00:18:59.550
I want my images to be intense and powerful
414
00:18:59.550 --> 00:19:01.200
and to have a warn us about them.
415
00:19:02.090 --> 00:19:03.691
Keep going Robert,
416
00:19:03.691 --> 00:19:06.333
split three the next few beautiful group shot.
417
00:19:10.074 --> 00:19:12.440
I do a lot of musicals as well.
418
00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.523
So this was for phlebotomies as you can say,
419
00:19:18.330 --> 00:19:21.413
It's just done for Disney could be about a year or so ago.
420
00:19:23.714 --> 00:19:26.264
This is the most popular (laughs) season this year.
421
00:19:27.153 --> 00:19:29.163
This seasons are Real Housewives.
422
00:19:32.310 --> 00:19:36.750
And so that's your entertainment side
423
00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:38.530
of your practise in LA?
424
00:19:38.530 --> 00:19:42.550
So when you moved to a new city or when you're discovering
425
00:19:42.550 --> 00:19:44.601
a new community, you do that
426
00:19:44.601 --> 00:19:46.554
through photography as well don't you?
427
00:19:46.554 --> 00:19:50.093
Should we let's go to that next set of images.
428
00:19:51.380 --> 00:19:54.590
Tell us about sort of the background of doing this work.
429
00:19:54.590 --> 00:19:56.470
Well, that a lot of my work was done
430
00:19:56.470 --> 00:19:57.530
with a collaborator,
431
00:19:57.530 --> 00:20:00.590
a good friend of mine, David Body and he was a stylist.
432
00:20:00.590 --> 00:20:03.970
He moved down to the states and together we went off
433
00:20:03.970 --> 00:20:05.940
and explored different,
434
00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:07.793
I guess, subcultures where
435
00:20:07.793 --> 00:20:10.250
they're really interested in youth culture.
436
00:20:10.250 --> 00:20:11.500
And so this was something we called
437
00:20:11.500 --> 00:20:12.600
it was called LA is burning.
438
00:20:12.600 --> 00:20:15.210
And so it was a series on for an editorial
439
00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:16.990
where we went off and worked.
440
00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:18.560
We would often try to find
441
00:20:18.560 --> 00:20:22.430
or people whether it was on social media
442
00:20:22.430 --> 00:20:24.530
or kind of really unique actors
443
00:20:24.530 --> 00:20:28.395
or sorry, unique models to feature in these.
444
00:20:28.395 --> 00:20:30.183
So this was an LA story.
445
00:20:31.260 --> 00:20:32.170
And you did the same way
446
00:20:32.170 --> 00:20:33.499
in getting to know Mexico.
447
00:20:33.499 --> 00:20:36.920
Tell us about the, I suppose your
448
00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:39.110
how did like when in this nine years,
449
00:20:39.110 --> 00:20:41.686
did you start travelling to Mexico and working there?
450
00:20:41.686 --> 00:20:42.519
So my partner I've been going to Mexico
451
00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:47.210
for about 15 years but I've only been a week.
452
00:20:47.210 --> 00:20:49.970
And then we did a trip together to Mexico city
453
00:20:49.970 --> 00:20:53.970
where I did a story for flora magazine with David,
454
00:20:53.970 --> 00:20:57.040
where here's a couple of portraits here
455
00:20:57.040 --> 00:20:58.390
and these are again on natural light.
456
00:20:58.390 --> 00:21:02.280
We scouted the streets for
457
00:21:02.280 --> 00:21:04.659
I think three or four days had racks of clothes
458
00:21:04.659 --> 00:21:09.340
and we would fight, we had all the models around
459
00:21:09.340 --> 00:21:12.520
and we would kind of find spots to shoot them.
460
00:21:12.520 --> 00:21:14.890
I'm really proud of this, I love this image
461
00:21:14.890 --> 00:21:16.803
I really connect to this.
462
00:21:18.036 --> 00:21:19.670
Yeah, they're beautiful images.
463
00:21:19.670 --> 00:21:21.540
And let's keep going while and talk about
464
00:21:21.540 --> 00:21:22.790
some of your group portraits.
465
00:21:22.790 --> 00:21:26.520
So this is another subculture within LA.
466
00:21:26.520 --> 00:21:27.920
So I was really lucky,
467
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.200
I got a call from a friend who's a photo producer
468
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:36.200
and he wanted me to shoot all the club, kids of LA.
469
00:21:37.330 --> 00:21:39.680
And so it started off with a group of 15
470
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.360
and I kind of thought what really makes up a club?
471
00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:44.620
It's who works at the door,
472
00:21:44.620 --> 00:21:47.190
who pulls the drinks, the DJs.
473
00:21:47.190 --> 00:21:51.440
And so the group of 15 ended up being 55 people.
474
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:52.399
And I had--
475
00:21:52.399 --> 00:21:55.913
Robert let's say that 55 people there.
476
00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.380
I had a staircase outside the studio
477
00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:02.920
and we literally shot lit
478
00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:04.951
and packed up everything within three hours.
479
00:22:04.951 --> 00:22:07.700
It was pretty amazing. I'm really proud of this one.
480
00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:09.950
So, it was so wonderful
481
00:22:09.950 --> 00:22:12.770
that everyone everyone kind of styled,
482
00:22:12.770 --> 00:22:15.580
I loved our everyone's personalities.
483
00:22:15.580 --> 00:22:17.302
Shown through you knew who wanted to take the attention,
484
00:22:17.302 --> 00:22:21.040
who wanted to kind of just proceed
485
00:22:21.040 --> 00:22:22.270
into the background a little more.
486
00:22:22.270 --> 00:22:23.103
It was great.
487
00:22:25.303 --> 00:22:30.303
It's a particularly amazing skill
488
00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:33.550
to be able to do excellent group portraiture like that
489
00:22:33.550 --> 00:22:37.360
and for older stay composed and controlled,
490
00:22:37.360 --> 00:22:41.450
is that something that you, I suppose, tell us about
491
00:22:41.450 --> 00:22:44.053
how you achieve that in your experience doing that?
492
00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:47.843
I guess for me, it starts off with a composition.
493
00:22:49.730 --> 00:22:52.520
So, like for me, it just kind of fell into place.
494
00:22:52.520 --> 00:22:55.084
I just knew I could some letters around before
495
00:22:55.084 --> 00:22:57.530
I knew where the line was gonna be.
496
00:22:57.530 --> 00:23:00.380
I had to really kind of make sure that lighting
497
00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:03.010
and then allowing people to then put them
498
00:23:03.010 --> 00:23:05.070
in an environment and allow them to move.
499
00:23:05.070 --> 00:23:08.970
And that's kind of the most integral thing
500
00:23:08.970 --> 00:23:12.230
to me is just once you kind of set people in a space,
501
00:23:12.230 --> 00:23:13.160
give them the opportunity
502
00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:15.086
because that's when the magic happens.
503
00:23:15.086 --> 00:23:16.333
Absolutely.
504
00:23:17.280 --> 00:23:20.977
We've got a few more shots here from your fashion work
505
00:23:20.977 --> 00:23:23.490
in your time in LA.
506
00:23:23.490 --> 00:23:28.383
we'll just Robert do a flip three days in John
507
00:23:28.383 --> 00:23:29.470
or just stop me a few,
508
00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:32.560
just tell us about this woven the woven portrait,
509
00:23:32.560 --> 00:23:35.295
because we're gonna connect a little bit more with that.
510
00:23:35.295 --> 00:23:36.440
I guess it's funny
511
00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:38.780
that I've now back in Melbourne for a little bit
512
00:23:38.780 --> 00:23:40.160
and I was back at my parents' place going
513
00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.465
through my work when I was a teenager.
514
00:23:42.465 --> 00:23:44.850
And it's so interesting to see that
515
00:23:44.850 --> 00:23:47.100
and see this work, the woven work
516
00:23:47.100 --> 00:23:50.725
where I came up with an idea this is for Esquire magazine.
517
00:23:50.725 --> 00:23:55.234
I put my photos through an office shredder
518
00:23:55.234 --> 00:23:57.250
and I reworked everything together
519
00:23:57.250 --> 00:23:59.920
with a magnifying glass and tweezers.
520
00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.670
And it's interesting to see how that kind of thing
521
00:24:02.670 --> 00:24:05.440
about turning my photos into sculptures
522
00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:08.440
or into objects relates back to the work
523
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:11.270
that I did when I was a kid like I would photocopy
524
00:24:11.270 --> 00:24:14.470
and I put my images or acetate repaint, paint over the men.
525
00:24:14.470 --> 00:24:15.303
It's just really...
526
00:24:15.303 --> 00:24:18.144
it was a lovely kind of connection to say
527
00:24:18.144 --> 00:24:19.663
how my work's evolved.
528
00:24:20.762 --> 00:24:23.040
And we've got a few more images
529
00:24:23.040 --> 00:24:26.023
of your beautiful portrait challenge.
530
00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:29.313
Then you keep going Robert.
531
00:24:30.765 --> 00:24:32.200
Is still a little bit more of a sample
532
00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:35.443
of John's work as he moves through that time.
533
00:24:46.470 --> 00:24:50.400
So now we're gonna change talk a little bit.
534
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.660
So come back to John and I,
535
00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:54.380
beautiful thanks Robert.
536
00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:58.990
So in the last two and three, two or three years,
537
00:24:58.990 --> 00:25:00.330
you've been living in LA,
538
00:25:00.330 --> 00:25:02.620
just paint a picture for us of that experience
539
00:25:02.620 --> 00:25:04.706
and how that's changed your practise?
540
00:25:04.706 --> 00:25:06.970
Well, I guess it's been a pretty tough time.
541
00:25:06.970 --> 00:25:09.965
Like everyone else that once the pandemic hit living
542
00:25:09.965 --> 00:25:13.580
a creative my work just fell apart.
543
00:25:13.580 --> 00:25:15.643
There was nothing happening.
544
00:25:15.643 --> 00:25:18.940
Well, the area that I live in happens
545
00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:20.120
to be in the centre of LA
546
00:25:20.120 --> 00:25:23.710
which when a lot of the protests happened
547
00:25:23.710 --> 00:25:26.490
for black lives matter that was like straight
548
00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:27.370
was the meeting point.
549
00:25:27.370 --> 00:25:29.590
And there were times that we had
550
00:25:31.666 --> 00:25:34.680
there was the day that the police ambushed protesters
551
00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:36.380
that was only a blocks away.
552
00:25:36.380 --> 00:25:39.930
It was kind of a really, I'm not gonna say traumatic,
553
00:25:39.930 --> 00:25:43.080
but it was a really kind of rough time for us to live there.
554
00:25:43.080 --> 00:25:46.330
We had the national guard machine guns on the street,
555
00:25:46.330 --> 00:25:48.240
we had helicopters flying overhead.
556
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:52.590
It was a real kind of that like with living
557
00:25:52.590 --> 00:25:54.986
in a Trump America for four years
558
00:25:54.986 --> 00:25:59.986
as well as the pandemic and then the protests
559
00:26:00.130 --> 00:26:05.130
and just such uncertainty was really, I guess, yeah,
560
00:26:06.504 --> 00:26:07.770
it was really kind of hard to kind of live
561
00:26:07.770 --> 00:26:09.900
in a world to live in, I should say.
562
00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:13.790
And then, and also unemployment.
563
00:26:13.790 --> 00:26:15.083
That was pretty hard too.
564
00:26:16.786 --> 00:26:20.280
So yeah, that was my a year last year Penny.
565
00:26:20.280 --> 00:26:24.400
And did that lead to your next body of where?
566
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.650
Well, interestingly, my partner encouraged me
567
00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:29.610
to see like a coach
568
00:26:29.610 --> 00:26:32.680
and it's something that I kind of resisted.
569
00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:33.634
I didn't really know.
570
00:26:33.634 --> 00:26:35.040
There's always times in my career,
571
00:26:35.040 --> 00:26:37.390
I always had to pivot, reeducate myself
572
00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:41.430
and find something new to do.
573
00:26:41.430 --> 00:26:43.200
And so it was really amazing too.
574
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.030
She really encouraged me to you find
575
00:26:47.030 --> 00:26:48.380
what really kind of connected to me.
576
00:26:48.380 --> 00:26:50.090
And it was about collaborations.
577
00:26:50.090 --> 00:26:52.010
So collaborating during a time
578
00:26:52.010 --> 00:26:55.234
where we all have to isolate was a really hard time for me
579
00:26:55.234 --> 00:26:58.090
but I kind of what I did was I approached
580
00:26:58.090 --> 00:27:00.140
a friend of mine who is a textile artist.
581
00:27:01.176 --> 00:27:03.680
We met through a commercial job
582
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.010
and she would wave over photos.
583
00:27:06.010 --> 00:27:07.810
And so I approached her
584
00:27:07.810 --> 00:27:09.800
and I just thought I had to do something.
585
00:27:09.800 --> 00:27:11.350
And it was also a friend of mine.
586
00:27:11.350 --> 00:27:13.586
Who's a casting director that we were chatting about,
587
00:27:13.586 --> 00:27:14.950
everything that was going on
588
00:27:14.950 --> 00:27:16.880
and that we want to just to do a project.
589
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:18.310
And so through that,
590
00:27:18.310 --> 00:27:21.847
we decided to do photography series on
591
00:27:21.847 --> 00:27:23.390
and feature young activists,
592
00:27:23.390 --> 00:27:24.460
people who are putting themselves
593
00:27:24.460 --> 00:27:27.330
on the line for their causes.
594
00:27:27.330 --> 00:27:31.820
And so from that evolved,
595
00:27:31.820 --> 00:27:33.590
what was gonna be a portrait series.
596
00:27:33.590 --> 00:27:35.670
I invited a friend to come along and bring a camera
597
00:27:35.670 --> 00:27:39.800
and that really put my just kind
598
00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:41.900
of like it's kind of a series now,
599
00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:43.870
there's a series has evolved from that,
600
00:27:43.870 --> 00:27:47.851
where I've gone off and made these short films on activists.
601
00:27:47.851 --> 00:27:49.770
So Robert let's have a little look
602
00:27:51.530 --> 00:27:53.833
at the beautiful textile collaboration.
603
00:27:55.020 --> 00:27:57.030
Yeah, so actually the people we would go
604
00:27:57.030 --> 00:27:58.420
and find them and it was really hard.
605
00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:03.420
Flora she lives up in like Costa San Francisco,
606
00:28:03.850 --> 00:28:06.150
or drove up and shot her film.
607
00:28:06.150 --> 00:28:07.367
She's a dreamer,
608
00:28:07.367 --> 00:28:11.690
she's an undocumented person who fights for farmers' rights,
609
00:28:11.690 --> 00:28:14.790
who are immigrants and often undocumented people.
610
00:28:14.790 --> 00:28:16.373
And so during the pandemic,
611
00:28:17.800 --> 00:28:20.540
they were deemed essential workers
612
00:28:20.540 --> 00:28:21.920
but they weren't given any rights
613
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:23.930
or given any protections.
614
00:28:23.930 --> 00:28:26.220
And so that's she's created a foundation
615
00:28:26.220 --> 00:28:27.523
to raise money for them.
616
00:28:29.117 --> 00:28:30.997
Chubby is a great friend of mine.
617
00:28:30.997 --> 00:28:33.164
Okay, in a film.
618
00:28:36.159 --> 00:28:39.736
This is a trans activist
619
00:28:39.736 --> 00:28:43.970
who didn't want to be filmed.
620
00:28:43.970 --> 00:28:45.500
However, has an amazing story
621
00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:49.240
and they use their social media
622
00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:51.920
to raise money for their communities,
623
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.860
whether it's a hundred dollars for someone
624
00:28:54.860 --> 00:28:57.959
to be housed that day or to eat.
625
00:28:57.959 --> 00:29:01.390
They're an amazing activist.
626
00:29:01.390 --> 00:29:03.790
This is Mellow whom are you gonna meet soon too.
627
00:29:06.930 --> 00:29:11.930
And this is Dom, he was at the age of 15.
628
00:29:12.470 --> 00:29:14.690
He went to walk with one of my locker Guatemala
629
00:29:14.690 --> 00:29:18.390
through Mexico, after his father was killed
630
00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:21.609
and so he's an undocumented person in LA.
631
00:29:23.028 --> 00:29:27.113
Yeah, we have a trait in store for our amazing audience,
632
00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:33.920
which is we're gonna play two of your films,
633
00:29:34.250 --> 00:29:35.780
your short films.
634
00:29:35.780 --> 00:29:37.680
I would call them digital portraiture.
635
00:29:39.688 --> 00:29:43.099
If we've got them teed up,
636
00:29:43.099 --> 00:29:44.093
Robert, we're gonna start with Mellow.
637
00:29:45.220 --> 00:29:47.800
If I would have met me 10 years ago,
638
00:29:47.800 --> 00:29:51.170
I wouldn't even believe that I, myself,
639
00:29:51.170 --> 00:29:54.070
I have changed immensely and I'm still changing every day.
640
00:29:56.770 --> 00:30:01.770
I have grown so much and learn so much about myself.
641
00:30:03.088 --> 00:30:07.609
It's been hard, but it's been really beautiful
642
00:30:07.609 --> 00:30:11.500
and I'm blessed to here.
643
00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:13.590
Hi, my name is Mel or mellow.
644
00:30:13.590 --> 00:30:18.010
I'm on the 25 year old chef and activist.
645
00:30:18.010 --> 00:30:21.013
And I happened to also be trans mask and non binary.
646
00:30:22.070 --> 00:30:24.540
I realised that I was trans separately
647
00:30:24.540 --> 00:30:26.470
then me realising that I was non binary,
648
00:30:26.470 --> 00:30:28.320
I've always really known that I was non binary
649
00:30:28.320 --> 00:30:32.300
because I've never, I've never felt like a girl,
650
00:30:32.300 --> 00:30:34.700
but growing up masculine lesbian,
651
00:30:34.700 --> 00:30:37.040
we're always asked, do you want to be a guy?
652
00:30:37.040 --> 00:30:39.130
And that's why I've never felt like I was trans
653
00:30:39.130 --> 00:30:40.850
because I thought that if I transitioned
654
00:30:40.850 --> 00:30:43.272
to that meant that I wanted to be a guy, which I never did.
655
00:30:43.272 --> 00:30:45.500
And then I met a lot of other trans people
656
00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:47.840
and realised that it's a spectrum
657
00:30:47.840 --> 00:30:49.970
and that I fit in that spectrum.
658
00:30:49.970 --> 00:30:52.713
So that's when I realised that I was trans as well.
659
00:30:54.580 --> 00:30:56.810
Face judgement and prejudices all my life.
660
00:30:56.810 --> 00:30:59.676
You know what I mean in 2016, when Trump was elected,
661
00:30:59.676 --> 00:31:03.910
the day after Trump was elected, I got fired from my job.
662
00:31:03.910 --> 00:31:07.500
I was maybe one of two black people working there
663
00:31:07.500 --> 00:31:09.103
and definitely the only person.
664
00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:14.103
I faced issues with housing because I'm trans.
665
00:31:14.980 --> 00:31:17.760
I had already gotten the place and I was actually moving in
666
00:31:17.760 --> 00:31:20.890
and then I sent my ID and I met the landlord in person.
667
00:31:20.890 --> 00:31:22.080
And so then when I left,
668
00:31:22.080 --> 00:31:23.230
one of the roommates texted me
669
00:31:23.230 --> 00:31:25.400
and said that the landlord told him,
670
00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:26.500
well, while I thought that you,
671
00:31:26.500 --> 00:31:28.433
I thought you said that this was a guy.
672
00:31:29.807 --> 00:31:31.673
And clearly it's not, I didn't couldn't move in.
673
00:31:32.550 --> 00:31:35.140
So I was like, yeah, all sort happened and everything.
674
00:31:35.140 --> 00:31:38.080
After that, I don't feel like
675
00:31:38.080 --> 00:31:39.810
we should have our rights politicised.
676
00:31:39.810 --> 00:31:42.940
Why there needed to be policies for trans people,
677
00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:47.070
the fact that they are putting bills in place against us.
678
00:31:47.070 --> 00:31:49.740
There's no reason why I should have to fight so hard just
679
00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:51.970
to get the healthcare, my medication,
680
00:31:51.970 --> 00:31:55.670
or regular that everybody else has you know.
681
00:31:55.670 --> 00:31:59.090
The love that I have for myself is growing daily.
682
00:31:59.090 --> 00:32:03.653
It's far more than it used to be.
683
00:32:05.745 --> 00:32:09.340
what scars make me feel empowered and strong.
684
00:32:09.340 --> 00:32:14.340
I really didn't have much love for myself
685
00:32:14.560 --> 00:32:16.150
for a very long time.
686
00:32:16.150 --> 00:32:17.700
I'm like, I didn't even used to like
687
00:32:17.700 --> 00:32:19.300
to look at myself in the mirror.
688
00:32:20.470 --> 00:32:23.520
But now I love to, I just want to wake up
689
00:32:23.520 --> 00:32:28.520
and wholeheartedly just love life.
690
00:32:28.760 --> 00:32:30.250
You know what I mean?
691
00:32:30.250 --> 00:32:33.620
And that's something that I'm definitely working towards
692
00:32:33.620 --> 00:32:35.935
and I want to help everybody else do that too.
693
00:32:35.935 --> 00:32:38.270
That's something big for me.
694
00:32:38.270 --> 00:32:40.073
I want everybody else to love their life.
695
00:32:50.082 --> 00:32:54.840
Working on that film was it hard?
696
00:32:54.840 --> 00:32:58.336
I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine, Darren.
697
00:32:58.336 --> 00:33:02.500
who's an amazing underwater cameraman come and assist me.
698
00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:07.110
So yeah, I had to teach myself sound
699
00:33:07.110 --> 00:33:11.590
which I'm terrible at but yeah so we directed it.
700
00:33:11.590 --> 00:33:14.290
We would have to, we shot that within four hours.
701
00:33:14.290 --> 00:33:15.970
And because again,
702
00:33:15.970 --> 00:33:18.540
it was during COVID times and everything had to be outdoors.
703
00:33:18.540 --> 00:33:23.540
And so Mel chose that spot over looking LA
704
00:33:23.744 --> 00:33:28.370
and wanted to be photographed or filmed there.
705
00:33:28.370 --> 00:33:32.877
And so we worked our way through a journey for him.
706
00:33:35.657 --> 00:33:36.490
So, yeah, so it was just me.
707
00:33:36.490 --> 00:33:39.020
I taught myself editing, I taught myself sound.
708
00:33:39.020 --> 00:33:41.810
I'm really lucky to have some like amazing friend of mine,
709
00:33:41.810 --> 00:33:44.503
Marker who helped me along with the music.
710
00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:48.420
And then a couple of other people who kind of helped me
711
00:33:48.420 --> 00:33:50.007
with suggestions along the way.
712
00:33:51.190 --> 00:33:53.540
So let's make chop by now.
713
00:33:53.540 --> 00:33:55.740
Tell us about the background of this next film?
714
00:33:55.740 --> 00:33:57.576
Yeah, so where there was a point
715
00:33:57.576 --> 00:33:59.940
we had to just get my partner and I had to get out of LA
716
00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:02.688
and so Hamish and I were living in Mexico
717
00:34:02.688 --> 00:34:04.780
and we were there for maybe eight months
718
00:34:04.780 --> 00:34:05.613
from last September.
719
00:34:05.613 --> 00:34:08.530
And I volunteered with...
720
00:34:09.563 --> 00:34:12.450
I've met a good friend of mine who worked
721
00:34:12.450 --> 00:34:17.450
on the board of an organisation called Casa Huichol
722
00:34:17.556 --> 00:34:21.883
which help a lot of the indigenous people
723
00:34:23.180 --> 00:34:25.800
or is there some tribes for collegial people
724
00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:30.800
to fight to get access to medical maybe optical.
725
00:34:33.556 --> 00:34:35.671
(laughs) yeah sorry.
726
00:34:35.671 --> 00:34:37.307
It's like different holidays foundation.
727
00:34:37.307 --> 00:34:38.140
Absolutely.
728
00:34:38.140 --> 00:34:40.423
So I went along and in photographs,
729
00:34:41.407 --> 00:34:43.430
one of the expeditions up into the mountain.
730
00:34:43.430 --> 00:34:44.870
So it was like a two day trip up.
731
00:34:44.870 --> 00:34:47.730
It was only there, I guess it was like a week round trip,
732
00:34:47.730 --> 00:34:49.710
but it really had a huge impact on me.
733
00:34:49.710 --> 00:34:53.370
So I shot some footage for them, which is in this video
734
00:34:53.370 --> 00:34:57.577
but I went back and worked with a couple months ago
735
00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:02.167
and shot this film with her.
736
00:35:04.354 --> 00:35:07.683
My passion comes from the colours.
737
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:11.640
The first time I went to the Sierra
738
00:35:11.640 --> 00:35:16.130
it amazed me to see all these costumes and brothers.
739
00:35:16.130 --> 00:35:19.260
It was such a party of images,
740
00:35:19.260 --> 00:35:23.360
all made with so much patience that it called my soul.
741
00:35:24.777 --> 00:35:28.694
(speaking in foreign language)
742
00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:34.760
They would ride a gas and indigenous tribe
743
00:35:34.760 --> 00:35:38.200
that has preserved their ancient traditions.
744
00:35:38.200 --> 00:35:40.910
They are also called the Huicholes
745
00:35:40.910 --> 00:35:44.413
and they are great artists and visionaries.
746
00:35:45.940 --> 00:35:48.880
I've been working with this community for 12 years,
747
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:52.460
but in the beginning when I got there, it was hard.
748
00:35:52.460 --> 00:35:55.480
It was hard because the leaders are men
749
00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:59.930
and it's difficult for a woman that is not
750
00:35:59.930 --> 00:36:04.930
from the community to come and bring a new proposal.
751
00:36:06.040 --> 00:36:10.630
I didn't find my place until I found my place
752
00:36:10.630 --> 00:36:14.520
with the woman, washing the dishes,
753
00:36:14.520 --> 00:36:18.857
making the food in creating way
754
00:36:18.857 --> 00:36:21.410
I learned to do embroidery
755
00:36:21.410 --> 00:36:24.950
and I found out that there was a big one,
756
00:36:24.950 --> 00:36:26.833
their ability of this woman.
757
00:36:28.650 --> 00:36:31.160
Well, with all this embroidery work,
758
00:36:31.160 --> 00:36:34.410
we found out that they have problem with their site.
759
00:36:34.410 --> 00:36:39.290
Through these, we connect with amazing doctors
760
00:36:39.290 --> 00:36:44.290
and we made the first campaign of coming to the Sierra
761
00:36:45.470 --> 00:36:49.100
and we checked 250 people.
762
00:36:49.100 --> 00:36:52.400
And from them, we take a list of 23
763
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:56.930
to get a surgery for cataracts to recover their side
764
00:36:56.930 --> 00:37:00.540
because the people that have cataracts they are blind.
765
00:37:00.540 --> 00:37:05.170
Through that we need all the support from their flora weeds,
766
00:37:05.170 --> 00:37:08.400
we are moving all the way that we can
767
00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:09.820
to find the resources
768
00:37:09.820 --> 00:37:14.560
and ways to get this opportunity
769
00:37:14.560 --> 00:37:17.060
to more people in La Sierra.
770
00:37:17.060 --> 00:37:21.250
This chance for these people to see again, it's everything.
771
00:37:21.250 --> 00:37:23.630
They can recover, their autonomy,
772
00:37:23.630 --> 00:37:28.483
how they move, their chance to work to create.
773
00:37:30.050 --> 00:37:33.333
This project is a seeds for the humanity
774
00:37:34.190 --> 00:37:36.600
and that we can fill our hearts
775
00:37:36.600 --> 00:37:41.600
with this amazing opportunity to love
776
00:37:41.889 --> 00:37:45.900
and to connect and to share.
777
00:37:45.900 --> 00:37:48.743
It's bringing light to the dark,
778
00:37:50.620 --> 00:37:53.678
people asked me if I have a boyfriend
779
00:37:53.678 --> 00:37:58.133
and I tell them that I am in love with an entire community.
780
00:38:08.560 --> 00:38:10.230
So John, thank you so much for...
781
00:38:10.230 --> 00:38:12.986
because everyone is very lucky because
782
00:38:12.986 --> 00:38:16.920
where among the first people that John
783
00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:18.400
actually shared these films with.
784
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:23.400
So yeah, what's your plans for these amazing cases?
785
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:25.633
What plan?
786
00:38:25.633 --> 00:38:27.377
(laughs)
787
00:38:27.377 --> 00:38:29.600
I just wanted to create these unencumbered
788
00:38:29.600 --> 00:38:34.090
by any constraints of like any publications or anywhere.
789
00:38:34.090 --> 00:38:37.193
I just wanted to them and I think interestingly,
790
00:38:38.070 --> 00:38:41.300
one of the men that's featured in the film.
791
00:38:41.300 --> 00:38:42.620
I mean, I can't speak Spanish.
792
00:38:42.620 --> 00:38:44.960
However, we communicated somehow
793
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.920
and he asked someone to ask me
794
00:38:46.920 --> 00:38:49.850
what I'd done for the Australian indigenous people.
795
00:38:49.850 --> 00:38:53.440
And I thought that I haven't lived
796
00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:54.321
in Australia for 10 years.
797
00:38:54.321 --> 00:38:59.273
And I think I need to tell some straight in stories.
798
00:39:02.273 --> 00:39:05.740
Now we've got a few more to take you right
799
00:39:05.740 --> 00:39:09.040
through the arc of John's career to this point.
800
00:39:09.040 --> 00:39:11.170
We've just got a few more images
801
00:39:11.170 --> 00:39:15.070
that these are a few from Mexico still aren't they John?
802
00:39:15.070 --> 00:39:16.630
So while I was in Guadalajara,
803
00:39:16.630 --> 00:39:19.150
I think it was such a wonderful time for me.
804
00:39:19.150 --> 00:39:23.020
I was also asked to create a story
805
00:39:23.020 --> 00:39:28.010
to represent queerness now.
806
00:39:28.010 --> 00:39:29.650
And it was for Mexico pride.
807
00:39:29.650 --> 00:39:30.680
And I just thought,
808
00:39:30.680 --> 00:39:32.950
I want it to create a series about love and about thrift,
809
00:39:32.950 --> 00:39:35.700
like the love of friends have for each other
810
00:39:35.700 --> 00:39:37.952
whilst showcasing some beautiful clouds.
811
00:39:37.952 --> 00:39:40.829
(laughs)
812
00:39:40.829 --> 00:39:44.040
And to really round it out.
813
00:39:44.040 --> 00:39:46.673
Oh yeah, just tell us a little bit about these compilation
814
00:39:46.673 --> 00:39:48.026
and this is...yeah
815
00:39:48.026 --> 00:39:50.450
So this is, again, kind of just working
816
00:39:50.450 --> 00:39:52.102
with collaboration with Victoria,
817
00:39:52.102 --> 00:39:56.300
that my first trip up into the Sierra Madre is
818
00:39:56.300 --> 00:39:58.250
these are some of the portraits I talk in the town.
819
00:39:58.250 --> 00:40:01.710
And so Victoria and I feel like
820
00:40:01.710 --> 00:40:04.830
we're so aligned in everything that we think that,
821
00:40:04.830 --> 00:40:07.340
so she took these portraits and I went over them
822
00:40:07.340 --> 00:40:09.670
and sell them to raise some money.
823
00:40:09.670 --> 00:40:12.400
It cost something like $650 for someone
824
00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:16.030
to be able to get their cataracts operated on,
825
00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:17.720
and so there are all these people
826
00:40:17.720 --> 00:40:20.440
who have their livelihood is to wave
827
00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:22.110
and through their crafts.
828
00:40:22.110 --> 00:40:24.382
And so I think it was a lovely,
829
00:40:24.382 --> 00:40:29.312
well, that kind of cycle that Victoria's work was able
830
00:40:29.312 --> 00:40:32.363
to raise money for their outside.
831
00:40:33.720 --> 00:40:37.040
And more recently, you've travelled back to Australia,
832
00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:38.770
spent some time in quarantine
833
00:40:38.770 --> 00:40:41.071
and three last images
834
00:40:41.071 --> 00:40:44.410
then it takes us all up to the recent point.
835
00:40:44.410 --> 00:40:45.960
So guys here is the next one,
836
00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:48.420
this is what a photographer
837
00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:50.070
jump over to the next one Robert.
838
00:40:51.710 --> 00:40:54.460
This is how a photographer spends two weeks in coating.
839
00:40:55.660 --> 00:40:56.900
It was either editing
840
00:40:56.900 --> 00:40:59.170
or, yeah, I just kinda thought,
841
00:40:59.170 --> 00:41:00.560
well, what can I do?
842
00:41:00.560 --> 00:41:01.720
And again, I just needed to...
843
00:41:01.720 --> 00:41:03.690
I've created a whole series I shot
844
00:41:03.690 --> 00:41:04.970
with the group of people,
845
00:41:04.970 --> 00:41:06.974
I was with the artists in Guadalajara,
846
00:41:06.974 --> 00:41:09.360
there was a butch dance group
847
00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:12.140
and so I did a shoot with them
848
00:41:12.140 --> 00:41:14.230
in a vacant mannequin factory,
849
00:41:14.230 --> 00:41:16.150
which is just like a photographer's dream.
850
00:41:16.150 --> 00:41:18.910
And so, yeah, so this was a series
851
00:41:18.910 --> 00:41:20.667
that, again hasn't been saying anywhere
852
00:41:20.667 --> 00:41:23.503
it's on my computer somewhere pending (laughs).
853
00:41:24.811 --> 00:41:27.380
And I think there's one more of them, Robert.
854
00:41:27.380 --> 00:41:31.370
And then I mean, that takes us up to now,
855
00:41:31.370 --> 00:41:32.203
doesn't it, John?
856
00:41:32.203 --> 00:41:35.860
And it's been fantastic for me
857
00:41:35.860 --> 00:41:38.090
to catch up with all that you've been doing
858
00:41:38.090 --> 00:41:43.090
over the last 10 years really.
859
00:41:43.254 --> 00:41:47.100
And it's been quite a journey for our audiences.
860
00:41:47.100 --> 00:41:50.180
I think so that's all we have time for.
861
00:41:50.180 --> 00:41:52.170
We've reached our destination here,
862
00:41:52.170 --> 00:41:54.049
that's been incredible.
863
00:41:54.049 --> 00:41:56.513
Thank you, it's always an honour to be asked
864
00:41:56.513 --> 00:41:59.040
to do anything with you guys and that I love it.
865
00:41:59.040 --> 00:42:00.530
Thank you.
866
00:42:00.530 --> 00:42:03.310
Thank you so much, John, for all that,
867
00:42:03.310 --> 00:42:04.610
for sharing that with us today
868
00:42:04.610 --> 00:42:07.780
those stories, the two videos particularly
869
00:42:07.780 --> 00:42:08.720
we're really moving.
870
00:42:08.720 --> 00:42:09.970
And you probably haven't
871
00:42:09.970 --> 00:42:12.167
had a chance to catch up with the chat.
872
00:42:12.167 --> 00:42:13.170
Needless to say,
873
00:42:13.170 --> 00:42:14.680
there hasn't been very many questions
874
00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:17.630
because I would have thrown them into the discussion,
875
00:42:17.630 --> 00:42:20.390
but I've been absolutely drowned
876
00:42:20.390 --> 00:42:23.220
with adoration for your work
877
00:42:23.220 --> 00:42:27.780
and people just absolutely adored seeing all of your images
878
00:42:27.780 --> 00:42:30.770
and your portraits and your incredible creativity.
879
00:42:30.770 --> 00:42:31.980
So thank you so much.
880
00:42:31.980 --> 00:42:33.780
And we'll send the chat to you so that all of
881
00:42:33.780 --> 00:42:35.582
these people's comments can actually come back
882
00:42:35.582 --> 00:42:37.870
and you can bask in that feel good glow
883
00:42:37.870 --> 00:42:39.950
that I've been happily basking in
884
00:42:39.950 --> 00:42:43.000
when I've done nothing, except introduce the programme.
885
00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:46.077
So thank you so much for sharing so much of your time
886
00:42:46.077 --> 00:42:48.370
and so much of your work and your passion with us, John.
887
00:42:48.370 --> 00:42:50.460
We really, really appreciate it.
888
00:42:50.460 --> 00:42:52.050
And thank you to you too, penny,
889
00:42:52.050 --> 00:42:53.920
for taking us through the discussion
890
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:56.060
and on the journey of John's work.
891
00:42:56.060 --> 00:42:58.110
If anybody else would like to join us
892
00:42:58.110 --> 00:42:59.342
for our virtual programmes,
893
00:42:59.342 --> 00:43:02.140
as I've said, we're very committed to continuing these
894
00:43:02.140 --> 00:43:04.330
where there are certainly become a core part
895
00:43:04.330 --> 00:43:05.860
of the national portrait gallery.
896
00:43:05.860 --> 00:43:08.490
Thank you so much, Anita, for your little cheer,
897
00:43:08.490 --> 00:43:09.479
it's so great and for your support.
898
00:43:09.479 --> 00:43:11.270
And a big shout out to Haymitch too,
899
00:43:11.270 --> 00:43:13.720
I noticed you coming in for your LA LAX there.
900
00:43:13.720 --> 00:43:14.813
Thank you for coming into--
901
00:43:14.813 --> 00:43:15.957
Hey (laughs).
902
00:43:18.430 --> 00:43:20.890
Please jump on our website, portrait.gov.au
903
00:43:20.890 --> 00:43:23.770
to check out all of the programmes that we've got coming up.
904
00:43:23.770 --> 00:43:24.830
Next week, we're speaking
905
00:43:24.830 --> 00:43:28.080
with Shanghai based photographer Dave Tacon,
906
00:43:28.080 --> 00:43:30.210
and the following week, following Thursday,
907
00:43:30.210 --> 00:43:33.540
we're speaking with Paris based Australian photographer,
908
00:43:33.540 --> 00:43:37.350
Nikki To who also harks from Scotland.
909
00:43:37.350 --> 00:43:39.310
So you'll hear some interesting accents
910
00:43:39.310 --> 00:43:40.920
on that particular programme.
911
00:43:40.920 --> 00:43:43.400
So thank you so much for joining us,
912
00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:45.670
please stay safe, stay well
913
00:43:45.670 --> 00:43:48.240
and we hope to see you online again very soon.
914
00:43:48.240 --> 00:43:49.073
Thank you.
915
00:43:49.073 --> 00:43:49.906
Thank you.