At the Big Sing in the Desert 2016, photographer Amy Jean Harding took this portrait of Beryl Bell. Beryl, a devote Christian, is from Docker River on the border of NT and Western Australia, nearly 700km from Alice Springs. Beryl enjoys the opportunity to meet with friends and family from other communities and make new friends at Big Sing in the Desert.
After Amy took this photo she asked permission from Beryl to enter it in an exhibition of portraits of Australians in Sydney. Beryl agreed. Amy made a huge print of it and thousands of visitors to Sydney’s Botanic Gardens saw Beryl’s portrait.
The next year, Amy brought it back to Ross River to give to Beryl. We hung it up in the trees for everyone to see. Now the photo is back in Docker River hanging in the church.
Photo: Amy Jean Harding
