Adrian Steirn

Based in South Africa, for a decade the Australian photojournalist and filmmaker Adrian Steirn has emotively interpreted Africa and its people through his own lens. He promotes engagement with wildlife conservation by instigating discussion and encouraging action regarding big issues like poaching; through his exceptionally powerful images he highlights the great elegance and tender fragility of the animals. Such is accomplished through storytelling, a central element of Steirn’s work which he practices through portraiture. He has captured traditional portraits of inspiring people like Nelson Mandela, however Steirn’s formal innovations include utilising the portrait lens for his animal subjects, consequently capturing remarkably intimate and deeply emotive photographs of the undeniably beautiful animals that inhabit the continent.