Moorooka is a suburb in Brisbane’s south that is one of the most culturally diverse in the city, and the Moorooka Festival reflects that. The event runs along the main commercial strip and draws a crowd that spans the full demographic range of the suburb — African and South Asian and East Asian and Islander and Indigenous and Anglo-Australian, all present in the same space on the same afternoon.
I photograph community festivals in Brisbane regularly, and what makes the Moorooka Festival distinctive is the density of portrait material in a relatively compact space. The faces are more varied here than at most events, and the community’s sense of pride in its own diversity is visible in how people present themselves.
On portrait photography at community events: The best portraits from this kind of event come from a combination of proximity and patience — getting close enough to make a real portrait, then waiting for the moment when the subject is present enough to hold the frame. The man in the blue turban stopped walking and looked directly at the camera with an expression that required nothing from me. I made the image and moved on.
On the musicians: The music stage at the Moorooka Festival ran all day and into the evening, and the programme was as diverse as the crowd — reggae, South Asian classical, folk, pop. The guitarist in the orange kurta was mid-song when I photographed him, and the image has the quality of someone who is not thinking about being photographed. The evening set, shot in the warm stage light after the sun went down, produced a different kind of image from the afternoon work.
On the political presence: Community festivals in Brisbane often have political stalls — parties and advocacy groups who show up to meet residents. The Greens volunteer photographed here was working the stall with genuine enthusiasm. I photograph political presence at community events the same way I photograph everything else — as something that is there, that is part of what the day looks like.
The Moorooka Festival is worth attending every year, both as a resident and as a photographer.