Spotlight on: Justin McManus
An interview with the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Portrait Prize-winner. “I liked the scope that the camera offered in terms of acting as a tool to document people.”
Winner of the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Portrait Prize
Justin McManus, The Sunday Age, “Landon and Joey”
The judges praised the softness and fragility of Justin McManus’ portrait of Yindjibarndi man Landon Punch with a joey. The portrait is part of a series, in which McManus has photographed Aboriginal families and community members who have lost loved ones while in police custody.
McManus made this portrait of Landon in the remote Western Australian town of Roebourne, on assignment with reporter Miki Perkins. Thirty-six years later, the community is still feeling the fallout from the death of teenager John Pat, which was instrumental in the Australian Government setting up the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Like many in Roebourne, Landon is fearful of police; McManus captures the peace and trauma in his face, while the joey presents a powerful visual symbol.
We interviewed Justin about how this photograph came to be and the work he’s proudest of.
How did you get to be involved with this story?
This was a story that reporter Miki Perkins and myself pitched to the Michael Gordon Fellowship, and were fortunate enough to be granted funds to undertake the project. Michael was an inspiration, an esteemed colleague and a good friend to both of us before his sad and premature passing. We knew he had been interested in doing something about “Life after Death in Custody”, so we wanted to honour our friend by continuing to tell the kinds of stories that Michael was passionate about.
What did it take to get this story up?
There was a lot of time and work making contact and establishing safe and productive relationships with our subjects, given the ongoing trauma they are experiencing. Many were based in Western Australia in remote communities, which made them difficult to contact, and also difficult to build the trust necessary to tell their intimate and heartbreaking stories.
The judges were really struck by the softness and tenderness of this image, which is partly down to the subject but also a real technical achievement. Can you talk about your technical set up?
My aim was to produce a series of portraits that would illustrate the ongoing grief of the people and communities affected by losing loved ones to death in custody. I worked with a simple and formal lighting setup; one main light on the face, and a key light placed behind the subject. I wanted to darken the background so that the viewer would be drawn solely into the subject’s face, on which the grief is written.
Did you have to spend some time with Landon building trust to have him relax in front of the camera?
Landon, a Yindjibarndi man, had just returned from a trip out on country where he had been running the camp kitchen for a surveying team.
He walked into the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal office in Roebourne with the joey wrapped in a jumper, and I asked him what had happened to its mother? He replied, “We killed it for food, and now I’ll rear the joey until he’s big enough to be released back into the bush”. His admission was brutal and caring at the same time. I thought it an interesting contrast in terms of duty of care with the stories of deaths in custody.
While discussing the story of John Pat’s death, Landon informed me that “the fallout still affected his community thirty-six years on”, particularly in their relationship with police. After our conversation, he agreed to a portrait with the joey. I was struck by his tenderness towards the joey; that despite killing the mother, this man was now committed to a nurturing role.
This portrait of Landon was part of a series; did you have other subjects pose with animals or objects, or was he special?
The portrait was part of a series that I shot in the community of Roebourne. Roebourne was an important town in the context of our story because it was the site of the very public murder of Aboriginal teenager John Pat. He was killed after local Indigenous people were threatened then attacked by four off-duty Police Officers outside the Victoria Hotel in 1983. His death was instrumental in the Australian Government setting up the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Landon was the only person I portrayed with an animal. It was just an opportunity that presented itself, and I thought his caring demeanour was in stark contrast to the way black people are treated in custody.
What impact did the story have?
One of the main cases that formed part of our story was that of Victorian woman Tanya Day who died in a Castlemaine police cell after being arrested for public drunkenness. As a result of a strong family campaign and media attention, the Victorian Government has now decriminalised public drunkenness.
We also had a great response to the story from the subjects, and friends and family of people who had died in custody. For many, there was no closure or any sense of justice about what happened to their loved ones, so they appreciated that the story shone a light into these dark places.
What made you want to be a photographer?
I have always been interested in stories of people, their daily lives and struggles, and I liked the scope that the camera offered in terms of acting as a tool to document people, but also the artistic flair that could be incorporated into that process.
What are you most proud of about the stories you’ve told?
I think it’s vitally important for non-Indigenous Australians to understand more about Indigenous people, for example, cultural revival and the socio-political issues that affect their communities.
I like to think these stories add to an understanding of how the recent history of our country has affected Indigenous people, but also to create an appreciation for the rich and complex culture that they’re willing to share with us that is at the heart and soul of the Australian landscape.
What’s your message to Australians about why quality journalism needs their support?
I think we are at a crucial turning point in the way media is understood and consumed in the modern world. A free press with quality journalists has an important role in maintaining a healthy democracy by asking hard questions and speaking truth to power.
But there are enormous challenges from platforms that can be easily manipulated to spread misinformation, news sources with self-serving agendas, politicians who brazenly dismiss facts, and governments that go out of their way to inhibit and undermine professional journalists.
When people pay for quality journalism they enable this important work to continue. I think people who only consume news from unpaid online sources and social media platforms need to ask themselves what their societies would ultimately be like without the professional services provided by independent journalists and publishers.
Justin McManus has been a photojournalist since 1996, initially following his passion for travel and photographing social documentary projects. While living in the UK his work regularly featured in The Guardian and Sunday Times and later he lived in Argentina and was a contributor to local publications. In 2006 he returned to Australia and began working for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, focusing his attention on documenting the culture and socio-political issues of Aboriginal people. Justin is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a World Press Photo in 2010, and Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year in 2012.
Read the announcement of all the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Press Photography finalists and prize-winners here.
See our post with all the finalists’ and prize-winners’ hero images here.
Find out when the Nikon-Walkley Press Photography Exhibition will tour near you here. (Currently open in Melbourne at 1826 Photography until October 27)
The 2019 Nikon-Walkley Press Photo of the Year Prize is supported by Nikon Australia.
