Aunty Lena at Home
Dolor Milford
- Sitter: Lena Joyce Yarry
- Medium: Photograph
- Dimensions: 90cm x 60cm
- Representation: This artist represents themselves
- Categories: Female artist, Digital or photographic artwork
About the artwork
Aunty Lena Joyce Yarry is a Migunburri, Mununjali and Yugara Elder, loved and respected across the Aboriginal communities of Brisbane, Ipswich and Beaudesert. Her story is devastating but all too familiar. Aunty Lena is a member of the Stolen Generation. At around ten years old, she and her younger sister were playing on the street in Acacia Ridge when a black car pulled up. The driver was from Welfare. For five years, the sisters were denied contact with their parents.
Family and community have been her bedrock ever since.
Dolor Milford has visited Aunty Lena many times over recent years, sitting together on her front porch as family and community come and go. “All greet her with love. I wanted to capture this mood of Lena, comfortable, relaxed, humble but knowing she is loved.” Simple and balanced, this photograph captures Aunty Lena as she is known to those around her, a cherished presence at the heart of her community.
About the artist
Dolor Milford is a Brisbane born, self-taught photographer whose practice is built on listening. Over several years she has photographed Indigenous women Elders, sitting with them, learning their stories, and creating images that are unstaged and true. A returning Brisbane Portrait Prize finalist, her work is driven by a belief in the power of everyday stories to reach beyond the everyday.
