Wednesday Artist: Miriam Charlie

I have a country but I don't have a home.

~ Miriam Charlie

A Garrwa/Yanyuma, Miriam Charlie, like many she knows, lives in dire poverty in Borroloola, a community in Australia's remote Northern Territory. Equipped with her camera, she began documenting her terrible living conditions and those of her friends and neighbors. The photos she made are part of an exhibition, "CCP Declares: On the Social Contract", which continues through July 10 at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Victoria, Australia. The exhibition, including both emerging and mid-career artists, aims to "examine or extend the idea of social contract theory; the idea that moral and political obligations and rights are bound upon an intrinsic agreement amongst the various constituents of a society." Other artists participating in the exhibition are Mohini Chandra, Cherine Fahd, Katrin Koenning, Pilar Mata Dupont, Tom Nicholson, and Elvis Richardson.

In the following short documentary, Charlie explains what she photographed and why. 

Miriam Charlie MY COUNTRY NO HOME from Rhett Hammerton on Vimeo.

Miriam Charlie, a liaison officer with Waralungku Arts Center, was awarded second place in the Aboriginal Arts Worker Photography Competition. (Read additional information about that competition.) Her photographs have been exhibited at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, and the nonprofit Desart, Alice Springs.

View Waiting patiently, one of Miriam Charlie's photographs at Desart (2015 Art Worker Photography selections). Also see her images Quade and Chase and Johnny sitting by the river.

Miriam Charlie on FaceBook

CCP on FaceBook, Twitter, and Tumblr

Brief Aboriginal History

Indigenous Culture and History

Transcript of Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples