Narelle Autio facts for kids

Narelle Autio (born in 1969) is a talented Australian photographer. She is known for her amazing pictures, especially those that capture everyday life and people. Narelle is part of a group called In-Public, which focuses on street photography. She also helped start Oculi, a special agency for photographers. She is married to another famous photographer, Trent Parke, and they often work on projects together. Narelle has won many important awards for her photography, including two Walkley Awards and two top prizes from World Press Photo. She also won the Oskar Barnack Award, which is a very big deal in photography!

Early Life and Education

Narelle Autio was born in 1969 in Adelaide, a city in South Australia. Her hometown was a suburb called Henley Beach.

She studied visual arts at the University of South Australia. She finished her degree in 1990.

Photography Career

Narelle Autio started her career as a photojournalist in 1991. A photojournalist is someone who takes pictures for news stories. She worked for a newspaper called the Adelaide Advertiser.

In 1994, she left Adelaide and traveled a lot. She worked for big newspapers in the UK and USA. She also worked as a photographer for News Limited's office in London.

Working in Sydney

In 1998, Narelle came back to Australia and moved to Sydney. She became a senior staff photographer at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. She worked there until 2003. During this time, she took photos for big events like the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Special Photo Projects

In 1999, Narelle and her partner (who later became her husband), Trent Parke, started a photo project called The Seventh Wave. They took pictures of people in the ocean, often underwater. Many of these photos were in black and white. They spent two years working on this project. They took photos at famous beaches in Sydney like Bondi, Freshwater, and Manly Beach. They also traveled up the coast to places like Newcastle and Byron Bay.

After The Seventh Wave, Narelle created another series of photos in 2002 called Not of this Earth. In 2004, she had her own show called Watercolours. This show continued her interest in taking pictures of Australians enjoying their free time. In 2010, she had another show called The Summer of Us. This project showed what people leave behind on the beach, both naturally and by humans.

Working with Other Photographers

In 2001, Narelle Autio joined a group called In-Public. This group focuses on street photography, which is about taking pictures of everyday life in public places. She also helped create Oculi, which is a group of independent photographers.

In 2018, Narelle Autio and Trent Parke worked with a filmmaker named Matthew Bate. They created a special video artwork called The Summation of Force. This artwork used eight screens to show different parts of the video at once. It was shown at the 2018 Adelaide Film Festival and at the Sundance Film Festival in the US. The artwork was shown in many countries and won an award at the Imagine Film Festival in Amsterdam.

As of August 2024, Narelle Autio lives in Adelaide.

Films

• The Summation of Force – This is an eight-channel film that Narelle Autio directed with Trent Parke and Matthew Bate in 2017.

Exhibitions

• 2002–2004: Dream/Life and The Seventh Wave (with Trent Parke). This exhibition was shown in Amsterdam, Fremantle, and New York.
• 2018: The Summation of Force, an eight-channel video artwork, was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

Awards and Recognition

Narelle Autio has won many important awards for her photography:

• 2000: Walkley Awards in Australia.
• 2001: First prize in the Nature stories category at the World Press Photo Award. She won this with Trent Parke for their "Australian Roadkill" series.
• 2002: Walkley Awards in Australia, for her "School of Dance" series.
• 2002: First prize in the Arts and Entertainment category at the World Press Photo Award.
• 2002: Oskar Barnack Award for her series called Coastal Dwellers. She is the only Australian photographer to have won this award so far.
• 2018: VR award at the Imagine Film Festival in Amsterdam, for The Summation of Force.