Kaytetye man Warwick Thornton (b. 1970) is an artist, writer, director and cinematographer. Born and raised in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, he studied cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney, graduating in 1997. His subsequent short films screened at prestigious film festivals and won awards internationally. Samson and Delilah (2009), Thornton's first feature film, won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and six Australian Film Institute awards including Best Director and Best Screenplay. His films Sweet Country (2019) and The New Boy (2023) also won numerous awards. As a cinematographer, Thornton's credits include the documentaries First Australians and Art and Soul, and the feature films Radiance and The Sapphires.
Susan Stitt ACS was the stills photographer and art director for The Beach, a six-part television series in which Thornton documented the months he spent living in a shack at Jilirr on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. 'This photograph was taken inside a scene for the project,' Stitt says, 'when he arrives at the beach, walks into Ancestral waters, weary and "city screwed up", and finds his balance.'
Gift of the artist 2022
© Susan Stitt ACS
The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the
Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a
Reproduction request. For further information please contact
NPG Copyright.
