All Shades: First Nations Portraiture
By Robyn Hamilton, Lead Collection Building, Queensland Memory | 28 May 2025
Dean Saffron is a freelance documentary photographer / filmmaker and a proud Kamilaroi First Nations man.
In 2024, State Library commissioned Kamilaroi photographer Dean Saffron's All Shades: First Nations Portraiture project. For Dean as a documentary photographer and filmmaker, All Shades was an exercise in truth-telling through a visual medium, exploring conceptions of indigeneity and demonstrating the diversity of expressions of First Nations identity.
All Shades: First Nations Portraiture invites audiences to see Queensland's First Nations people as they choose to be seen. Dean travelled all over Queensland, photographing and talking to people from as far north as Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait, to Mount Isa in the west and Bundaberg on the coast. Each participant chose the context in which they were documented, based on their individual experiences and identities.
One such participant was Aunty Adeline Lawrence, from Normanton:
Adeline Lawrence: Keeper of Tradition, Normanton, Queensland. Dean Saffron, State Library of Queensland.
Adeline Lawrence: Keeper of Tradition, Normanton, Queensland. Dean Saffron, State Library of Queensland.
I wanted to be photographed like this because this is what I’ve always known. Out here on Country, living the old ways, staying connected to the land — it’s who I am. This land provides for us, just as it did for our ancestors.
Hunting isn’t just about food; it’s about knowledge, respect, and survival. Every catch carries a story, a lesson passed down through generations. The land speaks if you know how to listen—where to walk, where to wait, where to find what you need.
I stand here, holding onto tradition, holding onto culture, so that our young ones never forget where they come from. This isn’t just my way of life. It’s our story, our strength.
While State Library is still processing and describing Dean's many photographs, a selection of the images will soon be available via our One Search catalogue. Dean's photographic exhibition, All Shades, will be on display in the Arbour Bridge Plaza Link Foyer at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from 31 May to 13 July 2025.
Explore other photographic collections by Dean Saffron held at State Library.
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