Meet the author - Juno Gemes

Juno Gemes will be in a conversation with Linda Burney, moderated by Ann McGrath, on her new book Until Justice Comes: Fifty Years of The Movement for Indigenous Rights.

Until Justice Comes is a landmark publication based on collaboration, revealing the true history of Australia. The uncovering of an often-invisible history of resistance and the fight for self-determination has long been at the heart of Juno Gemes’ engagement with the First Nations people she has known and worked with over decades and generations. These photographs include portraits of political and cultural leaders and intimate community events as well as activism played out on the streets.

This significant book brings together a powerful collection of over 220 photographs, fusing Juno Gemes’ current and continuing work with her unique living archive. It is the summation of a career witnessing and advocating for change: a collection of photographs making visible the history of the First Nations people’s struggle for justice over the last fifty years in Australia.

Continuing her collaborative approach, the book includes new writings and poems by key contributors including the Honourable Linda Burney MP, Larissa Behrendt, Djon Mundine, Fred Myers, Frances Peters-Little, John Maynard, Catherine de Lorenzo, and Ali Cobby Eckermann. Photographs, some of which to be shown on the night, will cover crucial moments in history including the Redfern Revolution, the land rights campaigns, the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, the election of eleven Indigenous Members to the 47th Federal Parliament, and the preparations for the 2023 Referendum on the Voice to Parliament,

Celebrated photographer and social justice activist Juno Gemes has spent much of her long career documenting the lives and struggles of First Nations people. Born in Budapest, Gemes moved to Australia with her family in 1949. In 2003 the National Portrait Gallery exhibited her portraits of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reconciliation activists and personalities, Proof: Portraits from the Movement 1978–2003, and has since acquired many of her photographs. Gemes was one of ten photographers invited to document that National Apology in Canberra in 2008.

“In a country so poor at keeping touch with its social history Juno Gemes is a national treasure”. David Malouf

“Until Justice Comes is the first fully retrospective testament to a woman universally revered for her artistry, activism, engagement and collaboration”. Gael Newton

The Hon. Linda Burney, a proud Wiradjuri woman, was the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003 and the first Aboriginal woman to serve in the House of Representatives in 2016. Linda Burney is the Member for Barton and served as Minister for Indigenous Australians from 2022-2024.As the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda focused on improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. During her two years as Minister, Linda is proud to have made a difference to First Nations people in Australia.

Professor Ann McGrath is the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow and W.K. Hancock Professor of History at the Australian National University. She has a longstanding interest in the history of gender and colonialism, the history of Indigenous relations and intermarriage in Australia and North America. The latest project is Rediscovering the Deep Human Past: Global Networks, Future Opportunities.

This event is in association with Harry Hartog Bookshop. Books will be available for purchase. Pre-event book signings will be available from 5.30pm and again after the event.

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A podcast will be made available after the event.

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