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Oculi

@oculi

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Australian collective of documentary & fine art photographers

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When I saw the words ‘the last picture show’ stitched across the back of staff jackets as they prepared the night’s popcorn, it caught my eye immediately.

I was looking for a story where I could process the emotions of loving something dearly that at times I also feel like is a dying industry - I’m talking about journalism. I ended up at the Coburg Drive-In cinema, the last of its kind in the Melbourne CBD which has a question mark over its future. It was a truly beautiful piece to photograph and write for The Guardian over a number of evenings. Meeting the projectionists who lost their jobs twenty years ago now work front of house and still having that enduring love, the parents who want their children to relive the memories they once had, those who don’t fit elsewhere who find solace in the drive-in’s ease and accessibility. #coburgdrivein @guardianaustralia @guardian

Part of an ongoing series ‘Last Cinema’. - Mridula Amin @oculi taken in Coburg Drive In Cinema by @oculi

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20 days ago

‘The Last Dolphin Hunters’ by @mattabbottphoto, of @oculi, for the @nytimes, was awarded in the 2026 World Press Photo Contest. It captures a community at a complex crossroads, confronting the loss of its island, continued reliance on a contested tradition for survival, and a social order being reshaped by new economic forces.

IMAGES
1. Fanalei Island in South Malaita, Solomon Islands has been reduced to a narrow strip of sand and coral by rising seas. Residents believe the settlement, once home to dozens of families, will become uninhabitable in the near future. 6 February 2025.

2. Young men scan the Surodo Lagoon, Fanalei Island, for signs of a successful hunt on 7 February 2025. During the 2025 season, unpredictable weather and rougher seas resulted in repeated failed attempts for the Fanalei dolphin hunters.

3. Children play near a butchered catch on 11 February 2025, Walande, Maramasike Island. In Malaitan society, dolphins are deeply revered and featured in church murals and traditional songs, creating a complex relationship where the animals are both spiritually respected and an important source of food and income.

4. Smoke rises as families cook dolphin meat gifted by neighbors on Fanalei Island, 12 February 2025. After an unsuccessful season, Fanalei’s residents rely on customary sharing across the Surodo Lagoon. by @oculi

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22 days ago

I was looking for a story where I could process the emotions of loving something dearly that at times I also feel like is a dying industry - I’m talking about journalism. I ended up at the Coburg Drive-In cinema, the last of its kind in the Melbourne CBD which has a question mark over its future. It was a truly beautiful piece to photograph and write for The Guardian over a number of evenings. Meeting the projectionists who lost their jobs twenty years ago now work front of house and still having that enduring love, the parents who want their children to relive the memories they once had, those who don’t fit elsewhere who find solace in the drive-in’s ease and accessibility. @guardian #coburgdrivein taken in Coburg Drive In Cinema by @oculi

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24 days ago

Oculi was beaming with pride to see three of our members featured as finalists in the National Portrait Prize’s final exhibition at @portraitau .

@elise.derwin
Tina and her teenage son lived in their car on and off for almost two years before they sought refuge in North Lismore, joining others occupying flood-affected homes amid the ongoing housing crisis in regional Australia. The damaged house they have been living in is due to be demolished as part of a government scheme to move people out of high-risk flood zones, yet Tina says there is little affordable accommodation available for women escaping violence. “We have water, a toilet, a shower,” she says. For Tina, the room offers rare stability, a place to rest after years spent in survival mode.’

@tacestevens
Although Star, my little sister, may need a carer for the rest of her life, she is one of the most caring people I know. She carries her own set of challenges that come from living with Autism and an intellectual disability, as well as responsibilities that come with being part of a big family. Having recently graduated Year 12, Star is stepping into a year of change in 2026. What I wanted to capture is the side of her that we see and love every day – her strength, tenderness and care. Here, she comforts our nephew who just woke up from sleep.’

@tajette.ohalloran
This portrait depicts Kai Goodwin, seventeen, in an abandoned brickworks quarry just outside of Lismore, New South Wales. In a region where infrastructure remains limited after floods, the quarry offers teenagers a place to gather beyond authority. Wrapped in a towel, Kai brushes her long, wet hair, a tender act usually reserved for private space. Its setting at a public swimming site reflects how care, intimacy, and coming of age unfold in improvised landscapes. The image sits within The Quarry as a study of youth not as spectacle, but as lived experience, attentive, resilient, and deeply entwined with place. by @oculi

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a month ago

Home is a place. Old work and new work. by @oculi

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a month ago

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Papua New Guinea to photograph this story for @newyorkermag.
I feel incredibly honoured to have contributed to Rachel Aviv’s extraordinary piece, which traces the disturbing and complex story of D. Carleton Gajdusek, the children he brought into his care, and the lasting consequences of what happened to them.
A huge thank you to photo editor @katzandrew for the opportunity, and to @rsaviv for writing such an incredible and deeply researched piece. It was a privilege to spend time in PNG and contribute photographs to a story with such an important history.

'Luwi, who is fifty-seven years old, took up journal writing at the urging of the Nobel Prize-winning pediatrician and virologist D. Carleton Gajdusek, whom he described as “Father of America.” Gajdusek lived in Papua New Guinea while researching kuru, a fatal brain disease that existed only in the country’s eastern highlands. Until the nineteen-thirties, the people there remained unknown to the outside world. Luwi and his friends used to crowd around Gajdusek’s typewriter, their hands on his shoulders and thighs, as he documented their lives: the insects they ate, their moods, the way they sang to birds.' by @oculi

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a month ago

Home is a Place: I am finally starting to make sense of old and new work and seeing how it is a part of something bigger and more meaningful. To me at least. by @oculi

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2 months ago

@oculi photographers @tajette.ohalloran @elise.derwin and @davidmauricesmith presented some of their documentary photography work on Friday night to a packed house at the @byronschoolofart in the inaugural Northern Rivers instalment of the “Oculi Presents” slide night.

“Oculi Presents” is a series created to share photography in the tradition of slide nights of the past. It is a grass roots way of sharing visual stories in a tradition that has become lost in the modern age of digital information.
A robust Q&A followed the presentation the work.

A big thanks goes Michelle Eabry at @byronschoolofart for her support, Steve Ong at @basewhite_printing for his beautiful printing, @yullisbrews for the delicious beer and to all the people who came along to the event. by @oculi

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3 months ago

In preparation for a presentation at the @byronschoolofart with @oculi colleagues @tajette.ohalloran and @elise.derwin I am revisiting my “Where the Floodwaters Escape” work from Wilcannia, NSW. I find myself abandoning some pictures and becoming interested in others that were initially skipped over…

Finding new meanings and questioning old ones is such a big part of documentary photography. When representing communities through imagery there is a responsibility to constantly question how and why you photograph.

Tickets are sold out for our talk. It makes me happy to think that people are interested in the work and the documentary photography process.

The prints exhibited were printed beautifully by Steve at @basewhite_printing by @oculi

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4 months ago

It’s with a mix of appreciation and sadness that we share Abigail Varney will be stepping away from Oculi Collective.

Abi joined us in 2020, in the thick of the pandemic, and has been an integral part of the collective ever since. Over the past six years, she’s helped shape numerous group projects with generosity, clarity, and a deeply considered approach to image-making. It has been a beautiful thing to witness her tender and intimate approach to photography and we will miss the energy, skill and humour she brought to the collective.

Beyond the work, it’s the moments around it we’ll miss just as much. The belly laughs, AGMs that became boot-scooting hoe-downs, and the sense of lightness and ease that came with having her in the group.

We’re incredibly grateful for everything you’ve given @abivar, and we are all so excited for your next venture! by @oculi

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4 months ago

Oculi photographer @elise.derwin published in @guardianaustralia for her ongoing documentary work in Lismore, northern NSW.

The NSW Auditor General’s report into the Reconstruction Authority’s flood recovery programs found the $100 million Resilient Lands Program has not delivered a single home or housing lot in the three and a half years since the 2022 floods, despite being created to help relocate flood-affected residents to safer ground. The report also found major recovery programs were rolled out without effective planning or governance, contributing to significant delays and ongoing impacts for residents still trying to rebuild their lives.

In the aftermath of the floods, there was an opportunity for government to respond in a way that could become a model for how regional communities recover from major climate disasters in the future. Instead, for many people, recovery has become defined by uncertainty and housing insecurity. Yes it has removed people from high risk flood zones but at what cost?

Full story @guardianaustralia written by Penry Buckley by @oculi

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4 months ago

OCULI PRESENTS - ELISE DERWIN

Join us for a photography slide night with:

@elise.derwin
@davidmauricesmith
@tajette.ohalloran

📍 Byron School of Art @byronschoolofart
🗓 June 19
🎟 $10 tickets via Eventbrite
🔗 Link in bio

'This Is Where We Live is an ongoing documentary project examining the long-term aftermath of the 2022 floods in Lismore. Focusing on North Lismore and the government buy-back scheme, the work explores the social and human consequences of displacement as residents were forced to leave one of the region’s last areas of affordable housing.' by @oculi

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4 months ago