Lorrie Graham photographic archive

Cataloguing in progress

fonds

1975-2024

Graphic Materials, Photographs

9683084

85,822 negatives - acetate - 35 mm, or 125 mm
8,005 photographs - digital, TIFF
3,802 transparencies
2,246 photographic prints

Lorrie Graham is one of Australia’s first female photojournalists. In 1975 Lorrie Graham became the first female photography cadet at the Sydney Morning Herald, winning one of Australia's pre-eminent prizes for journalism, the Graham Perkin Award in 1986. She was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2017.

Initially inspired by Life photographer, Margaret Gourte-White, Graham's style of photography is characterized by her masterful composition, creative storytelling, tenacity, and social conscience. She also had a keen eye for capturing the essence and personality of her subjects, whether celebrities, politicians, or people going about their daily lives.

Her photographs have featured in Australia's leading newspapers and magazines along with international media, and her works are held by National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library of Australia, Museums of History NSW and the State Library of NSW. From 1971 to 2004 her work was photo-chemical, mainly in black and white film, but also colour transparency when required by magazine publishers. For the last 20 years her work has all been digital born.

Graham’s personal projects include the publication of Sydneysiders (2000), and collaborations on several books including: Women of the World (1995); Children of the World (1997), The Nature of Australia (2000), The Australian Book of Family Murders (2004).

Reference:
Library acquisition file

This photographic archive, selected by the photographer herself, covers the period 1975-2024. It documents Australian society and culture and provides an Australian photographic perspective on international events.

This archive contains portraits of First Nations leaders, such as Mandawuy Yunupingu and David Gulpilil, celebrities and artists, including Noni Hazlehurst, Cate Blanchett, Andy Warhol, and leaders such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela and Australian politicians including two of her hew best-known works, one of Labor leader Bob Hawke at the party's 1983 election launch with two microphones covering his eyes, and the other of Paul Keating wearing sunglasses.

It also contains photographs of concerts for Australia’s Rolling Stone magazine, capturing images of some of Australia's most famous musicians from the 1980s and ‘90s as well as many international performers on tour including Peter Garrett, the Tamworth Music Festival, BB King, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper, Guns and Roses, Tina Turner, and Bryan Ferry and significant events such as the Vietnam War, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the East Timor crisis, first Iraq War for and the Sydney Olympics.

Series 1
Photographic prints, negatives and transparencies

Series 2
Digitised photographs

Series 3
Born digital photographs

This collection is arranged into three series by format, with the analogue, born digital and digitised components each having their own series. The photographer's original arrangement of various themes and subjects (approx. 22 sets) has been preserved within each of these series.