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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Tara Jade Samaya, n.d.

Pippa Samaya

inkjet print on paper
Tara Jade Samaya, n.d.

As part of the series Lit by volcanos, dancer Tara Jade Samaya was photographed by her wife and creative partner Pippa Samaya on a volcano in the Canary Islands during the Australian 2019–20 bushfires.‘This shoot was a reflection on being so far from home while our home was on fire. There is a suspension, dispersal, and desperation in this. It was a technical push for both of us, just using the natural world and the human body. What we achieve together in this photography of dance comes from our shared trust, language, values, aesthetic, and lives together.’

Stillness in movement

(More information, View all 11 images)

Related information

Tara Gower and Baden Hitchcock, Chicago, 2019 Lisa Tomasetti
Tara Gower and Baden Hitchcock, Chicago, 2019 Lisa Tomasetti
Tara Gower and Baden Hitchcock, Chicago, 2019 Lisa Tomasetti
Tara Gower and Baden Hitchcock, Chicago, 2019 Lisa Tomasetti

Stillness in movement

Magazine article by Tara James, 2024

Tara James shares the joy of dance and its power to connect in the National Portrait Gallery’s touring exhibition Dancer.
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The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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