The Worlds Oldest Civilisation – Indigenous AustraliansHeide Smiths Tiwi Collection Ngiya Mamante Tiwi -My Friends the Tiwi50,000 years ago, the Tiwi people settled on Bathurst and Melville Islands 60 km north of Darwin Australia. The Tiwi are Indigenous Australians, the world’s oldest civilisation.12,000 years ago, the last ice age ended, resulting in sea levels around the […]
Happy Birthday Dr H C Nugget Coombs (1906-1997) Some years ago, my husband Brian and I collaborated on a series of articles for the Canberra Times; he wrote the article and I provided the photograph. The articles were about both the photo session, and the person being photographed. Nugget Coombs was, quite simply, one of the […]
Ardent Indigenous Australian Women – Part 6Beach Combing Tiwi Style Part 6 of a series of portraits of Ardent Indigenous Australian Women by photographer Heide Smith. After an hour on various dirt tracks, we arrive at the open Timor sea. The sun comes up suddenly, harsh and hot. The glare from the white sand hurts my […]
Ardent Indigenous Australian Women – Part 5Visiting my Tiwi Friends at Milikapiti Polly Miller Mungatopi at Milikapiti 1988 Part 5 of a series of portraits of Ardent Indigenous Australian Women by photographer Heide Smith. Polly Miller Mungatopi: The sea is calm and gently laps at the roots of the pandanus and the mangroves. My feet scrape through […]
Ardent Indigenous Australian 4 WomenSunset Story One image from the Sunset Story Series, was used as the Cover Photograph for the “Bringing them home” report for the “National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Children from Their Families”, in 1997. Part 4 of a series of portraits of Ardent Indigenous Australian Women by […]
Women of ParuPart 3 of a series of portraits of Ardent Indigenous Australian Women by photographer Heide Smith. Marjorie Wonnamirri Paru Melville Island 1987 – portrait by Heide Smith Paru is a small place on the west coast of Bathurst Island, just over the Apsley straight from Nguiu – now called Wurrumiyanga – on Melville Island. It […]
Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography On Tuesday evening at the Australian Professional Photography Awards Dinner in Sydney, I became a Fellow of the AIPP. I knew that I was to receive some sort of honour, and I had therefore prepared an acceptance speech. However, […]
Hunting with Tiwi WomenPart 2 of a series of portraits of Ardent Indigenous Australian Women by photographer Heide Smith. Hunting for Possum with Valma – portrait by Heide Smith Hunting with Tiwi Women. The air is smoky. The Tiwi have been burning off, so it’s a good time to go hunting with the Tiwi. Some women asked […]
Ardent Indigenous Australian Women A series of portraits of strong Tiwi Women by photographer Heide Smith. Off to Tarantippi Beach 1987 I recently made a promise on Facebook to show some of the portraits from my collection of Strong Tiwi Women. It’s called “Ardent Indigenous Australian Women”, and this is the first post.It was ‘Dry Season’ […]
Alte Silber Gelantine Fotografie von Hameln 1956Die ‘Josef Lebovic Gallerie, Sydney, Australien’ gab vor einer Woche einen Katalog mit seltenen Fotos -unter anderen auch von Alt Hameln- heraus. Die Aufnahmen stammen von den Jahren 1955-1961, als Heide(Smith)Soltsien erst noch Foto-Lehrling war, und spaeter als Fotografin an der Tages-Zeitung DEWEZET als Fotoreporterin arbeitete. Der Katalog hat die […]