Photographers as Changemakers was a research study that I conducted via online Zoom interviews during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020.
Interested in the way photographers in Regional Victoria see the role their images play in society and with the support of Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria, I set about interviewing 18 photographers from across Regional Victoria to find out their perspectives. The subsequent report available here for free download covers these photographers experiences as working photographers, whether or not they see their images as having the potential to create social change, unconscious image creation, challenges of working in Regional Victoria and more. A gender lens was applied across the research project to uncover the relationship of photographers and their images to gender inequality in Australia today.
I hope this report helps create an understanding both between photographers in the industry in Australia; clients approaching photographers for content creation; and photographers themselves to reflect on the powerful role they have in creating social change.
As one photographer stated during the interview:
“If more photographers thought (about how their images shape beliefs), we could potentially live in a very different society… We’re in a world now where we’re bombarded by imagery. People take those images, photographers make those images. If they started thinking a little bit more ethically and with a social conscience, you know, there wouldn’t be girls that are anorexic cause they’re trying to look like the models in the fashion magazines.
You know, this is just one example. The photography community has so much power and they don’t even realise it a lot of the time.”
Thanks to the following organisations for their support during this project:
