Pacific Photobook Project

In October 2014, Torika Bolatagici received a Community Partnerships grant from the Australia Council to produce the Pacific Photobook Project in Melbourne and Sydney. The Pacific Photobooks was a participatory photographic project that brought together photographic artists and young people (aged 15-25) of Pacific Islander heritage to explore ideas around photography, storytelling and self-publishing. Free workshops were delivered in Melbourne and Sydney in 2015, enabling participants to create photobooks for exhibition at the Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive, Melbourne; Information Cultural Exchange in Sydney and at the Contemporary Pacific Arts Festival at Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne. The project was devised and managed by Deakin University lecturer Torika Bolatagici and engaged predominantly photomedia artists ofr Pacific heritage, to facilitate workshops for the Pacific Photobook project, including Salote Tawale, Michelle Lackenby, Daniel Boetker-Smith, Kirsten Lyttle and Torika Bolatagici. Commumity liaison officers were Thelma Thomas-Lesianawai (Sydney) and Rita Seumanutafa (Melbourne). The project outcomes were exhibited at Information Cultural Exchange in Sydney (Saturday 21 March 2015) and the Contemporary Pacific Arts Festival, Footscray Community Arts Centre (Friday 10 April 2015).