'In 1991, Michael Aird curated an exhibition of photographs taken in studios between the 1860s and 1925 of Aboriginal people living in Queensland and northern New South Wales regions. Fortunately, rather than limit the public exposure of such a unique set of images to a relatively brief display at the Queensland Museum, he later combined those photographs with others from personal collections to create this special, intimate publication Portraits of our Elders. While a selective rather than comprehensive view of photographs of the period, this collection presents a series of compelling portraits of individuals who indeed 'look beyond the situation they are in' (vii) and encourage us to do the same.' (Introduction)
'In 1991, Michael Aird curated an exhibition of photographs taken in studios between the 1860s and 1925 of Aboriginal people living in Queensland and northern New South Wales regions. Fortunately, rather than limit the public exposure of such a unique set of images to a relatively brief display at the Queensland Museum, he later combined those photographs with others from personal collections to create this special, intimate publication Portraits of our Elders. While a selective rather than comprehensive view of photographs of the period, this collection presents a series of compelling portraits of individuals who indeed 'look beyond the situation they are in' (vii) and encourage us to do the same.' (Introduction)
