Australia’s First Nations people are one of the world’s most enduring (if not its oldest.) Their history has largely been untold, invisible or dismissed, swept away by the dominant narrative crafted by colonial occupiers. The original custodians of the land have been effectively written out of what might be termed modern Australian history, with narratives so narrow as to marginalise them even further. While reparations have and are being made for change, the failure of the 2024 referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament shows that as a country we still have a way to go in accepting our truth. That said, there is now greater awareness in the general community, not only about the inequities our First Nations People face, but their power, strength, compassion and humanity. Photographer Juno Gemes’ epic new book Until Justice Comes contributes to the elevation of this narrative, bringing together half a century of visual documentation that shows First Nations’ culture is still strong as is the will to see justice done.
Since the 1970s, Hungarian-born, Sydney-based Gemes has trained her eye, and directed her heart, toward The Movement for justice. In overt and subtle ways, Gemes has captured the political and the social, the personal and public. Her images reveal untold stories and happenings that when read across five decades coalesce to reshape our understanding of Australian history.
When Gemes came to Australia following WWII, she learned little about Australia’s indigenous peoples. Like most, what she knew came through stories of the First Fleet and the colonisation of this land by the British Empire. Gemes suspected there was more to this narrative so when in the early 1970s the opportunity arose to work as a researcher on Uluru, an independent documentary film, she jumped at the chance.
At the time, Gemes had not long returned to Sydney after living in London. There she had been enveloped in the artistic freedom of the 1960s counterculture. When she arrived in the Northern Territory, it was like being transported to another world. Culturally, physically, geographically the desert was a shock to the senses. Wildlife so abundant the earth and air vibrated. Dry. Hot. Red dust covered everything. Crept into every crevasse. Stuck to sweat. Painted her anew.
Gemes recalls that on that first day in the desert, she sat some distance away under a tree to observe an encampment where women, children and elders gathered. She was not in a hurry to approach. Biding her time, she sat quietly becoming part of the landscape. While she was watching, so too, the community watched her. When Gemes was ready to come and sit with them, she was directed to the back of the group where the single women were. There Gemes listened, and her heart and mind opened. Here on the edges of the circle she heard stories that were life affirming. And so began a collaborative relationship of ‘sharing and learning’ that has defined her career and shaped her life.
Up until that point Gemes had not picked up a camera, but instinctively she knew that photography, rather than a single documentary film, was a more powerful and lasting means of capturing and communicating such a nuanced narrative. She wanted to reveal the true experience of Aboriginal Peoples, to tell their stories with them. Gemes’ stayed for six weeks absorbing as much as she could before returning to Sydney and eventually travelling back to Europe. As is her nature, over the next few years Gemes threw herself into learning about photography. She studied with Austrian-born New York-based photographer Lisette Model attending her workshop Incontra Personale in Venice. Her camera became a constant companion and when ready, she came back to Australia to begin what has become her life’s work.
Until Justice Comes
The title of Gemes’ weighty book that spans 384 pages and features more than 200 photographs comes from one of the leading voices in The Movement, Mum Shirl, who in 1972 said: ‘I am just holding the fort until justice comes.’ The patience and hope encapsulated in this statement affirms what Gemes’ photographs reveal. That the fight for justice is woven into the fabric of Australia’s history.
A photographer, friend and campaigner in The Movement, Gemes has been on the frontline documenting some of the most significant historical happenings: the 1982 Brisbane land rights protests; the 1985 Uluru hand back ceremony; the 2008 Apology to Indigenous Peoples where she was one of ten photographers invited into Parliament House; the 25th Anniversary of the Uluru hand back (2010); the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra (2022) and the meeting of the Referendum Advisory Committee at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in 2023.
Gemes has also been there for everyday moments, turning up with her camera through the decades to capture weddings, celebrations, theatre events, and family days at various locations across Australia. How did she know when to show up? “People would call me and tell me what was happening. I’d get my camera and head over” said Gemes.
Until Justice Comes conveys the power found in the organic unfolding of relationships. The result is an unprecedented collection of photographs and ephemera made possible because Gemes turned up, forged deep and lasting friendships, became politically aware and emotionally invested. And she stayed. For her, this was not a single project, or a fleeting interest. She became part of The Movement.
Gemes instinctively knew that documentation was only part of the process. The public needed to see the pictures for there to be dialogue. Fred Myers from New York University writes in the book that the circulation of Gemes’ photographs in “community newsletters and organisational postcards…posters for land rights … specialised journals, local, national and international exhibitions, mainstream media and Indigenous films on Aboriginal history” show the reach and power of her images.
An unprecedented documentation
Through chronicling The Movement, and the lives of people in urban and remote communities over five decades, Gemes’s complex narrative counters the narrow framing of mainstream media where the focus is largely on First Nations poverty, crime and despair.
Until Justice Comes turns this narrative on its head. It illuminates stories most of us don’t know to reveal the innovation of First Nations people in theatre, film, dance, and poetry. Gemes shows us that this ancient culture is alive and strong.
As Professor Sandra Phillips writes, Gemes’ pictures provide “evidence that denies the everyday racist derogatory perceptions of us as Peoples. What a tonic…The inventiveness and the humour…people who don’t know us don’t know how much we laugh.”
Gemes also captures the sacrifice and the loss. As Phillips observes, “there’s sadness too in sitting with these photographs.”
One of the standout features of the book is the contribution of women in The Movement. As Larissa Behrendt, Distinguished Professor and Laureate Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney writes, “although women were often behind the scenes, Juno’s eye was always drawn to their contribution. She captures in her portraiture their strength and defiance.” And their enduring commitment to justice. For instance, Gemes’ photographs show a young Marcia Langton protesting in the streets. Now Professor Langton AO, she continues to be a powerful voice in the fight for justice. Gemes also captures the evolution of Linda Burney over the decades. Burney, one of the stalwarts of The Movement, has had a long political career and was the first Aboriginal woman to hold the position of federal Minister for Indigenous Australians. She stepped down in 2024.
Selecting the 200+ images for Until Justice Comes took Gemes’ more than three years, a collaborative effort in line with her photographic practice. The extraordinary work she has put in over the past 50 years is also captured in collages, proof sheets and her written testimony, further evidence of her commitment to keep these stories alive.
Gemes’s photographs are paired with essays by luminaries in The Movement, politics, and academia, as well as poetry by Robert Adamson, Gemes’s late husband, and Ali Cobby Eckermann, a Yankunytjatjara woman and Stolen Generation survivor. The essays give insights into the fight for justice dating back to the 1920s further enriching the historical value of the book, which is sectioned into 18 chapters. It begins with Ceremonies, Culture and Survival and ends with After the Referendum.
You cannot reach the end of this extraordinary tome without being touched by the scope and profundity of Gemes’ documentation. Here is a photographic collection of First Nations stories without precedence. Gemes is a listener, an observer, a participant. Her curiosity is matched by razor-sharp acuity. Until Justice Comes is a unique and profoundly important contribution to Australian history. It shows us a truth that is only possible because, as Burney observes in the foreword, “Juno…lived it.”
Alison Stieven-Taylor
Arles Book Fair: Meet with Juno Gemes on her stand at the Arles Photography Book Fair July 8-9
Until Justice Comes
324 pages
200+ photographs
Upswell Publishing
