PhMuseum Criticae 2023/24 Online Public Presentation - May ‘24
Online public presnetation of my current work in progress Legal Fiction, developed over 9 months in PhMuseum’s CRITICAE MASTERCLASS with Laura El-Tantawy and Max Pinckers.
Legal Fiction is a photographic project investigating the creation and cultivation of a white society in Australia. Weaving interconnected sequences, each with a distinct visual language to challenge the now deeply entrenched societal values, symbols and power structures born from British invasion and colonisation of the country.
You can see the live-streamed event here on Youtube
Australian & New Zealand Photobook Awards - March ‘24
The Crimson Thread book has been selected as a finalist in the Australian & New Zealand Photobook Awards, thanks to Photo Collective and PHOTO24 Festival.
FORMAT23 Photobook Market: Performing the Photobook - March ‘23
The Crimson Thread book will be showing at the FORMAT23 international photography festival in Derby, UK.
Francesca Seravalle, the FORMAT23 Photobook Market Curator, “Can a photobook still surprise you? What remains unseen and what has yet to be discovered? We obsess over, sometimes even fetishise these objects. Like bodies, photobooks are in a state of becoming through ‘performing’. The Performing Photobook Exhibition aims to re-establish a new relationship with the photobook by opening our imagination, isolating and performing the photobook through our senses and gestures, both publicly and privately. The public becomes the performer. “
Photobook Editing Workshop at Le Space Gallery - March ‘23
Le Space is hosting a photobook editing workshop designed to edit a finished body of work into a photobook format, with some very talented guest speakers, facilitated by Erin Lee & Ying Ang.
The workshop consists of 4 Saturday meetings with a different guest speaker to share their knowledge & expertise in each session. Session One with Daniel Boetker-Smith: Introduction to photobooks and the Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive. Session Two with Katrin Koenning: Finding meaning and conceptualising the book. Session Three with Dan Rule: Book design elements. Session Four with Juan Brenner: Feedback and Critique.
Speculative Horizons: Photobook Exhibition - February ‘23
The Crimson Thread book will be showing at Speculative Horizons Photography Symposium in Kuwait City.
Speculative Horizons is an exciting new collaboration between Kuwait and Australia that will feature contemporary Australian and Kuwaiti photography and develop an expanding dialogue between the regions. Expanding the dialogue with image-makers around their work in photobook production to add further dialogue through longevity via publication. A selection of books will be on display at CAP in Kuwait and featured on the website.
PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant Main Prize Honourable Mention - November ‘22
The Crimson Thread is awarded a Main Prize Honourable Mention in the PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant.
The PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant, now in its 6th edition, aims to empower the work and careers of female and non-binary professionals of all ages and from all countries working in diverse areas of photography. Its mission is to support the growth of the new generations and promote stories narrated from a female perspective while responding to the need to work for gender equality in the industry.
Photoworks UK Graduate Issue - November ‘22
The Crimson Thread is published in the Graduate Issue of Photoworks UK.
The students graduating in 2022 have studied over years marked by the Covid pandemic and a period of intense ethical examination in photography and beyond. We celebrate the work of ten image-makers from around the world who have grappled with the challenges to produce outstanding work.
PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant & Solo Exhibition Finalist - October ‘22
The Crimson Thread has been shortlisted for PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant & for a Solo Exhibition at PhMuseum Photo Lab Gallery. The final results will be announced at the Vogue Photo Festival in Milan, Italy.
Centre for Contemporary Photography Fundraiser Exhibition - October ‘22
My work will be included among more than 40 prominent Australian and international artists exhibited at Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Photography with proceeds going to support CCP’s exhibition program and ongoing mission, and artists directly.
CCP supports artists by providing educational experiences for aspiring creators, exhibition opportunities for early-career artists, commissioned research projects for mid-career artists, and opportunities for established artists to experiment and take risks.
Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist - August ‘22
The Crimson Thread has been selected as a finalist in the Photolucida Critical Mass 2022.
Critical Mass is an annual program that makes connections within the photography community. Photographers from anywhere in the world, submit a portfolio of 10 images. Through a pre-screening process, the field is narrowed to a group of 200 finalists who go on to have their work viewed and voted on by over 150 esteemed international photography professionals. From the Finalist group, the TOP 50 are named and a series of awards are given.
The Crimson Thread Exhibition Opening Night - August ‘22
The Crimson Thread solo exhibition opening night, Friday 26th August 6 - 8 pm showing until Friday 23rd September at Le Space Gallery.
The work investigates the ubiquitous presence of Australia’s colonial history and attempts to better understand the impacts of colonisation and white privilege on contemporary Australian society. The title is taken from a quote by Henry Parkes, a British-born, Australian colonial politician who described Australia’s connection to the British Motherland as, “the crimson thread of kinship, which defined Australia as a bastion of ‘whiteness’ in the Asian region.”
Cecilia Sordi Campos & Erin Lee published in Photo Collective - June ‘22
A collaborative piece made between Cecilia Sordi Campos & myself, Erin Lee published in the new edition of Photo Collective Magazine.
”Cecilia & I share words and photographs which attempt to illustrate our musings, dreams, nightmares, desires and pains in - A Fragmented Conversation. Thank you for offering us the space to collaborate alongside other great work from the Australian photography community.”
Photo 2022 PHOTO lab with Magnum Photos - May ‘22
I will be participating in Photo 2022 PHOTO Lab, a workshop aimed at preparing emerging photographers for international professional practice through a comprehensive series of guided talks and workshops by industry specialists. Working in small groups, participants will have access to national and international curators, artists and educators at the forefront of photography from diverse institutions, experience and backgrounds.
Nominated for Residency Bursary at Landskrona Foto Festival - April ‘22
The Crimson Thread is shortlisted for the Landskrona Foto Festival residency 2022 in Sweden as part of PhMuseum’s photography grants program.
Landskrona Foto Residencies welcome early to mid-career photographers or artists working with photography and/or lens-based media, who wishes to further and challenge their practice, to Landskrona, to engage in a project related to the city.
Do Brumbies Dream in Red? published in Paper Journal - March ‘22
My essay on Tom Goldner’s moving work, Do Brumbies Dream in Red? published in Paper Journal.
“Australian artist Tom Goldner’s body of work Do Brumbies Dream in Red? is a haunting depiction of the slow yet unstoppable consequences of the climate crisis. Shot laboriously between large and medium format over a 2-year period which encompassed Black Summer—the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season that saw fiercely intense bushfires rage across large parts of the country and the arrival of COVID-19, both biting reminders that our days on this planet seem numbered.”
The Crimson Thread PhMuseum 2021 most interesting projects - December ‘21
The Crimson Thread was selected among PhMuseum’s 2021 Picks for interesting projects.
The work investigates the omnipresence of colonial history in Australia, follow the link if you'd like to read more or check out the other photographers in the group of which I'm honoured to be a part of.
The PhotoBookMuseum - December ‘21
Este Lado, This Side has been acquired by The PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne as part of the Kassel Dummy Awards finalists.
The PhotoBookMuseum is a mobile museum that hosts a library, exhibitions and events, so far, the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the medium of photobooks.
The Lucie Foundation Photo Book Prize - January ‘21
Este Lado, This Side is included in the independent category shortlist for the Lucie Photo Book Awards.
The Lucie Foundation is pleased to introduce the Lucie Photo Book Prize. This program is a juried competition open to a diversity of book submissions - from traditionally published to prototypes, hand-made books to zines. The awards are presented to photographers, editors, curators or publishers.
PHOTO 2020 x Perimeter Photobook Prize - December ‘20
Este Lado, This Side is shortlisted for the PHOTO 2020 x Perimeter Photobook Prize.
The PHOTO 2020 x Perimeter International Photobook Prize celebrates and advances the role of photobooks as an art form by identifying, publishing and distributing a new photographic project.
The inaugural Prize attracted submissions from over 125 photographers across Australia and all over the world. The 18 shortlisted projects present some of the most innovative and exciting photographers addressing a range of issues and concepts of global interest
Arquitectura Libre published in Lensculture - August ‘20
My essay on Adam Wiseman’s interesting work, Arquitectura Libre published in Lensculture.
“Photographer Adam Wiseman explores the fanciful freestyle structures that are built throughout rural Mexico without regard for building codes or classical ideas of beauty in architecture.”
United Photo Galleries Exhibition New York - January ‘18
Este Lado, This Side is a selected winner for the Tokyo International Photography Festival competition, this year’s theme is Borders.
Exhibited at United Photo Industries gallery in New York.
Tokyo International Photography Festival Competition - December ‘17
Este Lado, This Side is a selected winner for the Tokyo International Photography Festival competition, this year’s theme is Borders and the work will be exhibited in Tokyo, New York & Sydney.
Recognising the difficulty faced by photographers in reaching foreign markets due to language or cultural barriers, the Tokyo International Photography Competition was created to provide an opportunity for photographers to present their artistic visions beyond their country’s borders and open up the possibilities for cross-pollination and cross-border collaborations.
Este Lado, This Side published on Ain’t Bad - September ‘17
Excerpt from Este Lado, This Side publication in Ain’t Bad.
”Erin Lee is originally from New Zealand, currently based in Mexico City where she works as an editorial and documentary photographer and teaching photography. She defines herself as a nomadic soul inspired by the unknown. Her main interest as a photographer is to meet people and interpret their stories, using photography as a creative license to approach the topics chosen to document. Her work applies environmental portraits and landscapes to examine social issues, presented in a way that challenges the traditional format of documentary photography.”
Los Tiempos Cambian Exhibition - August ‘17
Group exhibition of work from photographers Erin Lee (NZ/MX), Delphine Tomes (UK/MX), Fethi Sahraoui & Nadjib Bouznad (Algeria) based around the ever-changing nature of time through the lens of street photography from four international artists. Explore the timeless beauty of human interaction amidst the constant flux of urban environments, all while contemplating the temporal nuances of language. At Otra Art Galeria in Roma, Mexico City.
La Guerra Inactiva / Idly at War Exhibition - August ‘17
My work Idly at War will be exhibited in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The work documents the frustration and boredom of the younger generation of Sahrawis who have grown up in refugee camps with no direct observation of war. Thousands of Sahrawis have been living in camps in the Algerian desert for over 50 years after fleeing invasion and annexation by Morocco, who continue to occupy their territory. Armed conflict came to a halt in 1991 when a UN-brokered ceasefire promised a referendum for potential Sahrawi independence, however, this was stalled over disagreements on voter rights and never delivered.
Visión del Norte book published - October ‘16
Happy to announce that the books from our Vision del Norte project have arrived in Mexico and are available to purchase!
We are in the process of sending them to our participants and donors, thanks to everyone who made the project possible.
Visión del Norte is a project developed by Erin Lee & Adel Koleszar to offer a series of free photography workshops for people living along the northern border of Mexico to develop over a three-month period.