Mervyn Bishop facts for kids

Mervyn Bishop (born in July 1945) is a famous Australian photographer. He made history by becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to work as a photographer for a major newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, starting in 1962. This also made him one of the first professional Aboriginal photographers. Just a few years later, in 1971, he was named the Australian Press Photographer of the Year! He has continued to take amazing photos and teach others about photography.

Mervyn Bishop: Growing Up and Learning

Mervyn Bishop is a Murri man, born in July 1945 in a town called Brewarrina in New South Wales, Australia. His father, "Minty" Bishop, was a soldier and a shearer. Minty's mother was Aboriginal, and his father was from India.

In 1950, Minty received a special "exemption certificate." This allowed some Aboriginal people to live away from missions. It meant Mervyn's family could live among "ordinary" people in Brewarrina. However, this certificate also meant they were expected to stop following their traditional culture.

Mervyn started taking photos of his family when he was in high school. He first used his mother's Kodak camera. Later, he bought his own 35mm Japanese camera. When he was 14, he moved to Dubbo to finish high school at Dubbo High School.

He went back to study later in life. In 1989, he earned a diploma in Adult Education from Sydney College of Advanced Education.

His Photography Career

Mervyn Bishop began his career in 1962 as a cadet photographer at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was the first Aboriginal person hired by the paper as a photographer. During his four years as a cadet, he also completed a Photography Certificate Course at Sydney Technical College. Even in 2004, he was still the only Indigenous photographer to have worked for that newspaper.

Winning Awards for His Work

In 1971, Mervyn won the Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year award. He won for his powerful photo called Life and Death Dash (1971). This picture was on the front page of the Herald in January 1971. It showed a nun rushing to get help for an Aboriginal child.

Artist Jonathan Jones said in 2014 that this photo was a "classic example of photojournalism." He explained that it showed the impact of religious missions on Aboriginal Australia. It also hinted at the sad story of the Stolen Generations.

Documenting Aboriginal Life

From 1974 to 1980, Mervyn worked as a photographer for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. During this time, he created some of his most important work. He visited Indigenous communities and recorded their lives. This was a hopeful time when land rights, equal pay, and government help seemed to promise a better future for Aboriginal Australians.

In 1975, during this period, he took his most famous photo. It shows Gough Whitlam (who was Australia's Prime Minister) pouring soil into the hand of Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari. This happened at Wattie Creek when the land was given back to the Gurindji people. This photo is seen as a symbol of the start of the land rights movement in Australia.

Mervyn returned to the Herald in 1979. Then, in 1986, he became a freelance photographer. This meant he worked for different companies, including the National Geographic Society.

Teaching and Exhibitions

Mervyn Bishop continued his studies and taught photography. He lectured at Tranby Aboriginal College, the Eora College, and the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney.

In 1991, he had his first solo exhibition (a show just for his own work). It was called In Dreams: Mervyn, Thirty Years of Photography 1960 to 1990. The famous artist Tracey Moffatt helped organize it. This exhibition toured for over 10 years! A book called In Dreams was also published with his photos.

He also worked as a stills photographer for the 2002 movie Rabbit-Proof Fence. In 2004, he created a one-man show called Flash Blak for the Message Sticks Festival at the Sydney Opera House. In this show, he used slides and music to share his family's history. He wanted to tell a bigger story about Aboriginal life in the late 20th century.

Awards and Recognition

Mervyn Bishop's work is highly respected. A photographic portrait of him, taken by Greg Lee, is displayed in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

• 1971: He won the Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year for his photo Life and Death Dash.
• 2000: He received the Red Ochre Award, which was worth $50,000. This award from the Australia Council recognized his groundbreaking work and lasting influence.
• 2013: He was featured in "Through the Eyes of Lens with Merv Bishop." This was an episode in the 2013 TV show Desperate Measures.

Personal Life

Mervyn's wife, Elizabeth, passed away from cancer in 1991. He then raised their teenage son, Tim, and six-year-old daughter, Rosemary.

Collections and Exhibitions

Many of Mervyn Bishop's photographs are kept in important art collections. These include the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), the National Gallery of Australia, and the National Portrait Gallery.

In 2010, his work was part of Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s–1970s. This exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia showed social documentary photos from many key Australian photographers.

Mervyn Bishop: The Exhibition was shown by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia from March to August 2021. It featured photos from the AGNSW collection, Mervyn's own collection, and also included sound and video.

Here are some of the solo and group exhibitions where his work has been shown:

• 1991–2001: In Dreams: Mervyn Bishop Thirty Years of Photography 1960–1990, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (toured for about 10 years)
• 1991: Images of Black Sport, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
• 1991: Her Story: Images of Domestic Labour in Australian Art, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
• 1991: Fine and mostly sunny: photographs from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• 1992: Cultural exchange with the Chinese Photographic Society and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• 1992: Recent Acquisitions – Australian Photography, AGNSW
• 1993: Aratjara: Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek
• 1993: Urban Focus: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from the Urban Areas of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1993: Photographs from the collection, AGNSW
• 1994: Critic's choice, AGNSW
• 1994: We Are Family, AGNSW
• 1996: From the Street – Photographs From the Collection, AGNSW
• 1997: Discipline and beauty, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• 1998: Retake: Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Photography, National Gallery of Australia
• 2000: Another country, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• 2001: A Dubbo Day with Jimmy and other reconciliation images, Stills Gallery, Paddington
• 2003: New View: Indigenous Photographic Perspectives, Monash Gallery
• 2003: On the Beach: with Whiteley and fellow Australian artists, Brett Whiteley Studio, Surry Hills
• 2004: Australian postwar photodocumentary, AGNSW
• 2008: Half Light: Portraits from Black Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• 2010: Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s–1970s, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
• 2011: What's in a face? aspects of portrait photography, AGNSW
• 2012: Home: Aboriginal Art from NSW, AGNSW
• 2015: The photograph and Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• 2017: Mervyn Bishop (June 24 – October 8), a major look back at his work at AGNSW and touring
• 2019: Artist talk and exhibition (May 7 – June 22), Bank Art Museum Moree, New South Wales.
• 2021: Mervyn Bishop: The Exhibition by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, featuring works from the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection, his private archive, and sound and moving images from the NFSA.