Artist Biography
Sabrina Lauriston is a professional photographer with a passion for storytelling. Her first love is film photography, using both medium format and pinhole cameras to create detailed and striking black and white images.
“You don’t take a picture, you create it, and for me the creation of an image is in the camera, in the instant you press your shutter.”
- Sabrina Lauriston, 2016
Art has always been Lauriston’s vehicle to express herself. Italian by birth, Lauriston studied painting and photography at the State Institute of Art (Duccio di Buoninsegna) in Siena, Italy. Graduating in 1994 she went on to own and operate her own art gallery and store in San Gimignano.
After Migrating to Australia in 2007 and starting a family, Sabrina felt a need to return to photography. Experiencing the difficulties of learning a new language and a new country, Lauriston needed a creative avenue to express herself and to connect with others, in a way that was beyond words and the limitations of language. She undertook a photography traineeship in Bundaberg, Queensland.
Since 2012 Lauriston has built a successful career and business as a freelance photographer and has also established herself as a professional artist. Using photography as her vehicle to connect with others and become a part of a community.
Lauriston has held solo exhibitions in Brisbane, Bundaberg, Dalby and Childers, overseas, Italy and has been selected to participate in two prominent touring exhibitions.
Lauriston specialises in portraiture, as she is drawn to the personal stories of individuals and their place in history. But for Lauriston portraiture does not always need to mean realism. She is drawn to abstraction, especially in regards to her pinhole camera practice.
Lauriston immerses herself totally in projects and bodies of work. Her most successful to date has been Foreign Land which has toured to four regional public Galleries in 2017 -2018. The exhibition has also been published in an accompanying catalogue featuring the portraits and life stories of 32 migrants. To have published a book in English, her second language, is a proud achievement for Lauriston.
Lauriston is a hardworking artist always willing to try new experiences. Her last two body work . Ego where she is turning the camera on herself, to capture through pinhole photography, the elusive and intangible emotions that plague us all. The second project is Australia: The Italian Experience, where Lauriston is currently photographing and interviewing elderly Italian migrants who made Australia their home during the post war years. The exhibition is intended to be displayed in both Melbourne and Siena Italy in 2023.
Solo Exhibitions
2022 I Am Woman, School of Arts, Bundaberg, QD
2022 Australia: The Italian Experience, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg, QLD.
2021 In the shed, an art project in collaboration with Creative Region and ABC wide bay Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery Bundaberg QLD
2021 Make Hervey Bay Home, a multi-cultural arts project in collaboration with the Hervey Bay Neighbour Centre. Hervey Bay Neighbour Centre QLD
2019 Ego, Limonaia at Tribunale d
2018 Foreign Land, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Beaudesert, QLD
2018 Ego, Galleria Lombardi Arte , Siena Italy
2018 Ego, Cross Gallery Bundaberg QLD
2018 Ego, Gataker's Art Space, Maryborough, QLD
2017 Foreign Land, Gallery 107, Dalby, QLD
2017 Foreign Land, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg, QLD.
2015 Foreign Land, Childers Arts Space, Childers QLD.
2013 A Life Behind, Queensland Centre for Photography, Brisbane QLD.
2013 A Life Behind, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg, QLD.
Group Exhibitions
2021 she/her/hers, Childers Art Space
2020 Found! Studio Dog, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg QLD.
2020 The Twenties: One Hundred Years of Inspiration,Hinkler Hall of Aviation, QLD.
2019 Giallo Napoli Galleria Nuvol
2019 KoSi Complesso San Marco Siena, Italy
2019 Here and Now, Childers Arts Space, Childers QLD.
2018 Iconic Queensland 2018, touring exhibition to: USQ Artsworx Toowoomba, TYTO Regional Gallery Ingham, Emerald Regional Gallery, Jan Eckford Centre Julia Creek, Mundubbera Regional Art Gallery, Childers Art Space and Warwick Art Gallery.
2016 #Tag and Release, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg, QLD.
2016 #Tag and Release, Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Art, Brisbane, QLD.
Arts Projects
2021, photographic presentation and public lecture in collaboration with curator Trudie Leigo, Hinkler Hall of Aviation, Bundaberg, QLD.
2020 In the shed, an art project in collaboration with Creative Region and ABC wide bay
2019-2021 Make Hervey Bay Home, a multi-cultural arts project in collaboration with the Hervey Bay Neighbour Centre. Developing a photographic exhibition and publication.
2018-2019 Australia: The Italian Experience
2019 Trolleyscape, public art installation in collaboration with artist Raymon Singleton, CRUSH Festival, Bundaberg,
QLD.
2014Collectomania, portrait photography for an exhibition about collectors, and the objects they collect,
Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg, QLD.
Awards and Grants
2021 Regional Arts Development Fund, I Am Woman
2021 Regional Arts Fund, I Am Woman
2019 Regional Arts Development Fund, Professional Development to undertake an Artist In Residence program at Freemantle Arts Centre.
2018 Regional Arts Fund, Australia: The Italian Experience.
2018 Queensland Regional Arts Award, selected for the touring exhibition Iconic Queensland.
2017 Regional Arts Development Fund, Australia: The Italian Experience.
2015 Fremantle Portrait Prize, Freemantle, WA - Semi Finalist.
2014 Regional Arts Development Fund, Foreign Land.
2013 Fremantle Portrait Prize, Freemantle, WA - Semi Finalist.
Artist in Residency
2020Fremantle Art Centre
2019Fremantle Art Centre