Gemma-Rose Turnbull (Australia):

Red Light Dark Room; Sex, lives and stereotypes

“A year ago I joined St. Kilda Gatehouse (a support centre for St. Kilda’s drug users and street sex workers that is run on donor support), as artist in residence. I began photographing the street workers, then gave the women their own cameras and worked with them to tell their stories. The result is a collection of insightful interviews, observations and photographs, that seek to open the shutters on their day to day lives. These were collated into a book: Red Light Dark Room; Sex Lives & Stereotypes, which is being sold to raise money for the Gatehouse. I have ended up with a project that does not shy away from sharing strong and sometimes painful stories. My greatest wish is that the project helps to humanise these women.”

Gemma-Rose Turnbull graduated from the Queensland College of Art with First Class Honours in Documentary Photography, working as a photojournalist following her graduation. She was named News Photographer of the Year 2007 and received the Mary Clerc Scholarship for Exceptional Talent in Photojournalism to attend the Missouri Photojournalism Workshop in the United States. She spent three years on the editorial board of Australian Photojournalist and was Editor of the magazine’s 11th edition, Celebrating Journalism. For the last five years she has worked for the IndoChina Media Memorial Foundation running photography workshops for Vietnamese photojournalists. In 2009 she was nominated for a Griffith University Award for Excellence in early career teaching.

Images © Gemma-Rose Turnbull.