An unintended photography project, born out of the intended family time in Melbourne’s 6th lockdown.
With no more rainbows on the pavements, stuffed animals away from the windows and once vibrant spoonvilles turned sad ghost towns – everyone needed to figure out their own way to keep going. Small things. Small wins. Like making a space helmet for your child fascinated by the night sky. And a suit.
Too bad that the novelty of a costume doesn’t last. Stories however, seem to have worked since forever. So we took the costume and went looking for stories. The good thing is that stories can be found anywhere, be it 5km travel limit or your bedroom. The bus stop or a laundry.
These photographs are the memories from the stories we found. The lockdown has now ended. We’ll outgrow the costume. But the time spent together exploring and imagining is one special gift to keep.
Somehow The Rocketgirl Chronicles become known far beyond their original home in Australia and images of the little astronaut keep travelling all around the world, thanks to the overwhelming support of many people who connected with our little project. Thank you!
Awards
- International Photography Awards, 2024 – Book/Fine Art Winner
- Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3), 2024 – Book Photographer of the Year
- Belfast Photo Festival Open Submission, 2024 – Book Winner
- Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, 2024 – Finalist
- Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, 2024 – Finalist
- Photometria Awards, 2024 – Finalist
- CLIP Award, 2024 – Finalist
- Tokyo International Foto Awards, 2023 – Book/Fine Art Winner
- Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3), 2023 – Fine Art/People Winner
- Analog Sparks, International Film Photography Awards, 2023 – Fine Art/Conceptual Winner
- Hasselblad Masters, 2023 – Portrait Finalist
- Capture Magazine Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographer, 2022 – Portrait Winner, Overall Runner-up
- Fine Art Photo Awards, 2022 – Conceptual Winner
- International Photography Awards, 2022 – Analogue / Portrait Winner, Best of Show
- Tokyo International Foto Awards, 2022 – Fine Art Winner
- ND Awards, 2022 – Fine Art / Conceptual Winner
- Life Framer Award, Youthhood, 2022 – 2nd Prize
- Australian Photography Magazine Photographer of the Year, 2021 – Overall Winner, Portrait Winner
- Bluethumb Art Prize, 2021 – Photography Runner-up
- National Portrait Photographic Prize 2022 – Finalist
- Kuala Lumpur International Photographic Prize 2022 – Finalist
- HeadOn Photo Awards, 2022 – Finalist
- Bluethumb Art Prize, 2022 – Finalist
- Wyndham Art Prize, 2022 – Finalist
- IMA Next, Japan, 2022 – Finalist
- OptiKA Award, 2022 – Finalist
Exhibitions
- 2024 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Award, HOTA, Gold Coast, Australia (14 December 2024 – 11 May 2025)
- 2024 PX3 Winners and State of the World, Galerie 24b, Paris, France (5 – 9 November 2024)
- 2024 Photometria International Photography Festival, Ioannina, Greece (28 September – 1 December 2024)
- 2024 Treviso Photographic Festival, Luigi Bailo Museum, Treviso, Italy (5 – 29 September 2024)
- 2024 Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville (22 June – 1 September 2024)
- 2024 CLIP Awards, Perth Centre for Photography (12 – 21 July 2024)
- 2024 Belfast Photo Festival, Northern Ireland (Exhibited Book, 6 – 30 June 2024)
- 2024 TIFA 2022/2023 Winners, Tokyo, Japan (5 – 30 March 2024)
- 2023 Vintage Photo Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland (15 – 24 September 2023)
- 2023 La Luna Bambina, Cavallerizza, Torino, Italy (13 June – 10 September 2023)
- 2023 Life Framer Edition VIII
- Valid World Hall Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2 – 9 March 2023)
- FotoZA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (5 – 12 May 2023)
- Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, US (3 – 18 November 2023)
- 2023 International Photography Awards Best of Show
- House of Lucie, Budapest, Hungary (March 24 – April 15, 2023)
- House of Lucie, Athens, Greece (5 – 9 April, 2023)
- House of Lucie, Ostuni, Italy (22 July 2023 – current)
- 2022 National Photographic Portrait Prize
- National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Canberra (25 June – 9th October 2022)
- David Roche Foundation Museum, South Australia (27 January – 01 April 2023)
- Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia (14 April – 28 May)
- Yarra Ranges Regional Museum, Victoria, Australia (07 June – 20 August 2023)
- 2022 Photoville, New York, US (4 – 26 June)
- 2022 Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia (4 – 20 November)
- 2022 Riaperture, Ferrara, Italy (13 – 29 May)
- 2022 IPA Best of Show, Splashlight Studios, New York, US (October)
- 2022 KLPA Photographic Portrait Prize, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- GMBB (16 September – 2 October)
- Temu House (20 November 2022 – 28 January 2023)
- 2022 CCP Summer Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (25 November – 18 December)
- 2022 Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Melbourne (2 June – 7 August)
- 2022 OptiKA Exhibition, Kingston Arts Centre, Melbourne (24 June – Saturday 23 July)
- 2021 Ilford Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (21 January – 06 February, 2022)
In media
