By Dean Saffron | Kamilaroi Nation
Saturday, 31 May – Sunday, 13 July 2025
The collection is displayed across two locations on the Arbour and Plaza levels, in public accessible areas that are open to visitors even when events are taking place nearby.
Aunty Kathleen Hopkins and Aunty Ada Simpson, Cherbourg, Queensland
BCEC is delighted to host All Shades, a striking photographic exhibition by Kamilaroi artist Dean Saffron, that invites audiences to see First Nations Peoples as they choose to be seen – with strength and pride. This exhibition opens during Reconciliation Week in May.
A stunning collection of 30 large-scale portraits, All Shades captures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from all walks of life across Queensland and the Torres Strait.
Each portrait represents a genuine collaboration between the artist and the participants who come from remote communities, city streets, cattle stations and coastal towns. Significantly the participants choose the context in which they are captured, shaped by their own identities and personal experiences. “This work isn’t about me, the people in these portraits are the storytellers,” says the artist.
Saffron travelled thousands of kilometres to capture these stories, as part of a larger collection commissioned by State Library Queensland, recording oral histories and creating a visual archive that will be preserved for future generations.
A long-time friend of BCEC, Dean is a celebrated documentary photographer and filmmaker whose lens has captured humanity in its most honest and rawest moments. His work spans global humanitarian projects for UNICEF and the World Food Program, as well as leading brands, including Shell, Billabong and Jacobs Creek.
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