Rescue:Portraits of the 2022 Lismore Floods Civilian Rescuers in collaboration with Jeanti St Clair.
Shortly after the Lismore floods in 2022, it became apparent that the role of the civilian rescuers was instrumental in avoiding injury and even death of those trapped by the water. Jeanti St Clair and myself have been recording the stories and taking portraits of these local heroes. The aim of this project is to create a book with the stories and portraits. Below a sample story- words by Jeanti St Clair.
Katelyn and Lauren McKenzie
Lismore Basin
Two sisters. Two single-person inflatable kayaks. What started as a call out to help rescue their octogenarian grandfather became an eight-hour mission saving 17 people around McKenzie Street in the Lismore basin. Lauren and Katelyn McKenzie would put one person in each kayak and then wade through neck-high water to bring them to safety. The water, they said, was full of red ants who saw the sisters as a stretch of dry land. Ants crawled all over the bodies and under their clothes seeking safety, biting them as they went. But still the sisters persisted.
Creatives of the NSW Northern Rivers
From mid-2022 to early 2023, I undertook a project where I captured 320 portraits of creative individuals living and working in the NSW Northern Rivers. These portraits have been compiled into a book, which is available at the Book Warehouse in both Lismore and Ballina.
