Restricted Images

When European ethnologists documented Aboriginal groups living near Alice Springs in the late 1800’s, the authors were oblivious of the impact these images would have on the lives of their subjects. Over a century later, it is common for Indigenous communities across Australia to restrict the use of photography as a form of cultural protection.

Responding to complex questions around photography, representation and agency, British artist Patrick Waterhouse and the Warlpiri of Central Australia have collaborated to make Restricted Images. This series of photographic portraits have been ‘restricted’—painted over and reclaimed—by the person depicted, or a close relation, as an act of personal advocacy and reclamation.

Presented by Photo Australia for PHOTO 2021