ART PARTY: MARTINE PAYNE PHOTOGRAPHY
Art Party is a celebration of the art we create and the story behind it.
Each feature includes a curated list of questions to help you dig deeper into sessions you may see on Instagram and want to learn more about.
If you have a session, series, or collection you would like to celebrate, send me an email with all the details and a link to the gallery.
MEET MARTINE…
Martine Payne is a Sydney-based photographer whose passion for photography began in the darkroom at an early age and has grown into a career spanning more than 12 years.
Drawn to music, beautiful light and meaningful connection, she's inspired by the quiet beauty often unseen by others, capturing it with honesty and warmth.
The spark of an idea….
Through my family photography, I developed a growing interest in motherhood sessions because I found that the most beautiful portraits were often the most stripped back. I've also always been creatively fascinated by the female body, and these sessions gave me the opportunity to explore that interest more deeply.
As the motherhood sessions evolved, I realised I wanted to create something that celebrated women outside of the wife or mother roles they're so often defined by - and instead focus purely on the beauty, strength and individuality of their bodies.
The Body Project…
Creatively, each year I've tried to push myself. In the first year I was focused on creating the perfect portrait, but by the second and third years I became much more interested in exploring movement, light and emotion. I wanted the portraits to feel less posed and more reflective of each woman's personality and story.
The biggest change has probably been the experience itself. From the second year onwards, I invited an arts psychotherapist to facilitate the day and support the women through workshops and conversation. It felt like a missed opportunity not to create space for reflection and connection, rather than just taking photographs, as I had noticed how much fun the women had together while waiting to be photographed the first year,
The exhibition has also evolved. Since the second year, every portrait has been accompanied by a personal written piece from the participant, adding context and allowing visitors to connect more deeply with each woman's story.
The greatest joy has been watching complete strangers walk into the room feeling nervous and leave genuinely connected and mostly empowered that they challenged themselves. The sense of community that forms between the women is incredibly special, and watching them interact with each other and share their stories brings me the greatest joy of all.
Also, the joy of giving them the opportunity to walk into a gallery and see themselves on a gallery wall has felt like a rewarding full-circle moment.
An incredibly vulnerable experience…
It's an incredibly vulnerable experience, and that's partly what drew me to the project. It requires an enormous amount of trust from each participant, and I think that vulnerability is what gives the portraits their honesty and sense of freedom.
Creating a safe environment was a big priority. Having an arts psychotherapist there throughout the day gave participants someone to guide conversations and offer support. It has hopefully transformed the experience from simply a photoshoot into something much more meaningful.
I also think that once the women meet each other, something shifts. Everyone realises they're stepping outside their comfort zone together, and that creates an incredible sense of camaraderie and mutual support.
The feedback has largely been very positive, but it’s a delicate topic, and each participant experiences it differently. Many women have told me they walked away seeing themselves with more compassion than they ever had before, and that the experience changed the way they viewed their bodies. And for some, unexpected feelings and emotions can arise.
An exhibition…
Creating an exhibition felt like the natural next step. The whole purpose of the project was to show these women that their bodies were worthy of being seen—that they were works of art. What better way to honour that than by placing their portraits on a gallery wall?
I also wanted the wider community to engage with these images. We rarely see diverse, unfiltered female bodies represented in this way, and I hope the exhibition encourages people to question the narrow ideals of beauty we are constantly presented with.
Creative freedom…
Personal projects give me the freedom to create work driven entirely by curiosity and inspiration, rather than a client brief. It has challenged me creatively, encouraged me to experiment, and helped me discover what I truly love photographing.
It has also reminded me why I became a photographer in the first place—to tell meaningful stories, create connection, and make work that hopefully leaves people feeling something.
In 10 years from now…
I hope they look back at these photographs with kindness. I hope they see themselves with the same compassion and admiration that others see in them, and realise just how beautiful they were in that moment – without seeing any of their perceived flaws they may be focusing on now.
More than anything, I hope these portraits become a reminder that their bodies were never something to criticise, but something that carried them through life. They're a snapshot of one chapter in a lifelong relationship with themselves.
The upcoming exhibition…
The upcoming exhibition has grown into so much more than a collection of photographs. Alongside each portrait will be a personal written piece from the participant, giving visitors a chance to connect with the story behind the image and the relationship each person has with their body.
We've also created a few free interactive experiences for visitors to take part in. There'll be a painted collaborative artwork that everyone can contribute to, along with an anonymous postcard project where you can write a message to a stranger and, in return, receive an anonymous postcard in the mail from someone else.
This year I'm also collaborating with previous Body Project participant Jessica Davina. We instantly connected through our shared love of celebrating the female form and creating spaces where women can reconnect with their bodies through creativity, play and curiosity.
Jessica will be running three creative workshops across the weekend: a life drawing session, a body printing evening, and an immersive paint-and-sip experience. Before the workshop, participants submit a nude selfie, and Jessica turns it into a paint-by-numbers canvas ready for them to paint. It's honestly one of my favourite creative experiences—I’ve done it three times now. There's something really special about viewing your own body objectively, and watching it emerge as an inspiration for a piece of art.
Everything happening over the weekend has the same intention: to help women see their bodies with a little more kindness, a little less judgement, and maybe even a sense of appreciation. I hope people leave feeling inspired, connected and with a different perspective than when they arrived.
The Body Project Exhibition
Opening Night: 6 pm Fri Aug 21
Aug 21 – 23
Muses Space, Bondi Rd
