Red Beach Flower by Laura de Jersey, 2020

As part of the Belonging project, Laura de Jersey created a series of peaceful digital portraits including Red Beach Flower, inspired by her home in Old Mapoon and being on Country.

‘Taking photos when I’m out on Country is my favourite, and I wanted to merge both the portraits of my family members and landscape photos to create an artwork that reflects on my life, my Country and my family.’

The Belonging project supported both new and experienced artists from Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait to experiment and create works using new media. Laura and the other artists from Wei’num Arts took part in photography and photo editing workshops, before launching into their own projects.

Laura had always been fascinated by photography, having dreamed of one day working for National Geographic. She already had some experience with Photoshop and was proactive in her learning. Workshop facilitator Rebecca said, “One minute she’s looked everything up on YouTube, and by the next morning she’s like, ‘Here’s five ways of doing this.’”

Do you enjoy photography? Take some photos and experiment with image editing tools to create an artwork. What ideas, perspectives or meaning will you communicate?