There are sixty haunting portraits of first Nation women of all ages around the Barangaroo Headland. The exhibition is entitled Naabani (Thou shall/Will See); Barangaroo (army of me).
Artist Brenda L Croft is a Gurindji Maingin Mudvurri woman who has presented black and white photographic portraits of contemporary First Nations women and girls.
The setting is appropriate is I believe Ms Croft wanted to show a link between the warrior woman Barangeroo and those depicted on the foreshore of Sydney harbour.
The photos are deliberately under-expoaed, highlighting the eyes and, on occasions, the skin.
To protect the images from the elements, they were covered in a think plastic material.
The problem for me was that plastic was highly reflective and combined with the under-exposure of the photos, all I saw at times was a reflection of Sydney harbour.
I would dearly love to see these portraits in a gallery, where I could examine them more closely.
As a Sydney Festival it closes on Sunday 29 January, 2023.
Text and photos by Ben Apfelbaum
