Cultural Development Consulting

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David Maurice Smith wins the 2013 Pool Grant

CONGRATULATIONS! to David Maurice Smith, the winner of the 2013 Pool Grant.

The award is made by the Pool Collective, a group of eminent Australian photographers who put their own money together to create an annual grant for an emerging photographer to allow them to make a significant new body of work and so take a substantive step forward in their career.

David Maurice Smith will use the grant to complete a project about the rural Aboriginal Community of Wilcannia, New South Wales. “The Barkindji live with racism, violence, incarceration, overcrowding and all forms of abuse,” he explains, “their existence settled in the deep shadows of a stereotype attached to being ‘black’ in Australia.”

This year, Alasdair Foster was the external judge for the grant. He was overseas when the award was presented and announced the winner via a video link from Denmark. While it had been a tough decision to select just one recipient from a strong field, he noted that David Maurice Smith’s portfolio demonstrated a well-developed visual sense. Added to this, he had an important story to tell and the broad range of experience and skill necessary to help ensure a sensitive approach to a complex subject.

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