PORTRAITS FROM A LAND WITHOUT PEOPLE

Editor of Portraits From a Land Without People: A Pictorial Anthology of Indigenous Australia 1847–2008

Compiled and written by John Ogden
Published by Cyclops Press, Sydney
Hardback, colour, 216pp, 2009
Introductions by Pat Dodson and Prof. Larissa Behrendt
Designed by Gianni Frinzi, T&G Publishing
Cover by Ricky Maynard, Wik Elder, Gladys, 2000
ISBN: 9780980561906 (out of print)

"I think this is a magnificent book… as important a book as anything that’s been published in Australia for years." — Phillip Adams

"The book has an authenticity that dwarfs most attempts in film, television and print to tell the Aboriginal story of the last two centuries… It is a raw story. It stands on its own and yet pays its respect to so many others who looked through a lens along this long road." — Jeff McMullen

Over several years, Australian cinematographer John Ogden searched through rare photographic and film archives around the world to compile this comprehensive and unique anthology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island portraiture. The monograph's title plays on the fiction of 'terra nullius' and charts the photographic history of Indigenous Australia — from the first photographs taken by Douglas T. Kilburn in 1847, through to the Australian Prime Minister’s 'Apology' of 2008. 

Portraits was made with the support of Reconciliation Australia, and in co-operation with the Jimmy Little Foundation to support programs for improving Indigenous health services. 

Visit the Cyclops Press website.