Bio
BIOGRAPHY
Louise Grayson's photographs explore how people are entwined with one another, and their environment, in inherently similar ways across the globe.
Her works encourage us to slow down, look and listen.
They reflect her constant pursuit of not simply “meeting” people but hearing them, appreciating their perspectives, and attempting to share their tales.
This has resulted in her fascination with similarities of the human experience, across culture, race and region.
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“I stood beside my father at the border of Hungary.
High up in the tower there was a man with a machine gun.
I was curious.
Dad explained that if I'd been born on that side of the fence I would never have been able to leave and travel the world freely.” (Louise Grayson)
Louise Grayson was born in Rotorua, New Zealand when, aged nine, her family spent a year traveling the world before settling in Australia.
This time away from her small hometown instilled in her a fascination with how people are entwined with one another, and their environment, in inherently similar ways across the globe.
Aged 19, she dropped out of university to return to Eastern Europe when her lecturers admitted textbooks were irrelevant, due to rapid political changes in the region. She travelled solo through Eastern Europe (the then) Soviet Union and China.
Since then, Louise's work has seen her continue to traverse the globe. She has worked from rural villages in Africa to the streets of Paris, from China to Antarctica.
Louise has amassed a portfolio that encompasses the genres of photojournalism, documentary, portraiture and landscape photography.
She has mounted several major photo essay projects, each spanning years of work —Rituals At Dawn, Streets Apart, Releasing Dragons—and one book, The Guardians, which explores the community that preserves the World War I Anzac legacy in both Europe and Australia.
Louise taught Photojournalism and Creative Advertising at Queensland University of Technology from 2005 - 2017 and previously worked as a newspaper photojournalist.
She currently lives with her partner Alistair, and their Cairn Terrier, Geordie between their farm in the Byron Bay Hinterland and Brisbane, Australia
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EDUCATION
PhD, Qld University of Technology, Australia.
Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Qld University of Technology
Magnum Agency Photographic Workshop, Sydney, Australia
Master of Arts in Visual Arts, Griffith University, Australia.
Bachelor of Arts (Journalism & International Politics), University of Queensland, Australia
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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2018 - 2019 The Guardians, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2014 Camarade: World War I multimedia exhibition. Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
2014 Louise Grayson Landscapes, Sprout Gallery, Brisbane Australia
2013 Queensland small towns Documentary project Brisbane Powerhouse Gallery, Australia
2013 Water, photographic exhibition. Head On Photo Festival, Sydney.
2010 Streets Apart QLD Academy for Creative Industreis Gallery
2009 Rural Poultry in the Developing World, International Development Conference, Australia.
2009 Façade, Sarlat Regional Council, France
2008 Façade, Alliance Francasie Gallery, in collaboration with the Queensland Writers Festival.
2007 Releasing Dragons, The Valley Gallery, Queensland, Australia