© National Portrait Gallery 2025
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Poet, author and activist Dr Roberta ‘Bobbi’ Sykes (1943–2010) passionately advocated for First Nations rights in Australia. She completed a PhD at Harvard University and was committed to promoting educational opportunities for First Nations students through overseas study. Leading up to the 1967 Referendum, Sykes fought for the ‘yes’ vote to amend the Australian Constitution for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the national census. In 1972, she was a co-founder of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra and established Black Women’s Action with Sue Chilli, Marcia Langton AO and Naomi Mayers OAM. Sykes also worked as a health educator at the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern, where this photograph was taken.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981.
© The Estate of Carol Jerrems
Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers transcend the purely personal and have come to shape Australian visual culture.
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