Kaytetye man Warwick Thornton (b. 1970) is an artist, writer, director and cinematographer. Born and raised in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, he studied cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney, graduating in 1997. His subsequent short films screened at prestigious film festivals and won awards internationally. Samson and Delilah (2009), Thornton's first feature film, won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and six Australian Film Institute awards including Best Director and Best Screenplay. His films Sweet Country (2019) and The New Boy (2023) also won numerous awards. As a cinematographer, Thornton's credits include the documentaries First Australians and Art and Soul, and the feature films Radiance and The Sapphires.
Susan Stitt ACS was the stills photographer and art director for The Beach, a six-part television series in which Thornton documented the months he spent living in a shack at Jilirr on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. 'This photograph was taken inside a scene for the project,' Stitt says, 'when he arrives at the beach, walks into Ancestral waters, weary and "city screwed up", and finds his balance.'
Gift of the artist 2022
© Susan Stitt ACS
Susan Stitt ACS (1 portrait)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
from Saturday 15 March
Gallery Three features major new acquisitions, collection highlights and favourites.
It takes a village to raise a creative! Get an insight into the often-unseen work and supporters needed for the arts to thrive. The work of art documents the creative process, evoke states of creativity and inspiration, and shows us clues about the subject’s own work from the way artists portray them.
