YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child.

© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project © Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project © Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project View all images ↓
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A deeply personal exploration of grief and loss surrounding a child that never came to be, examining how grief imposes its demands on us and reimagines family structures.

Through this work, I highlight the profound longing and yearning to become parents—experiences often overlooked in a society focused on traditional family units. Celebrations like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day take on a different meaning for us, filled with unique emotions that prompt reflection. The narrative is intentionally cryptic yet rich, aiming to evoke complex emotions and challenge viewers to confront latent losses and desires in their lives.

By sharing our story, I seek psychological relief and collective strength, addressing the question, “If not a mother or a father, then who are we?” Ultimately, the project aims to create an atmosphere that encourages viewers to engage with their own experiences of loss and desire, fostering a deeper understanding of what it means to navigate life as an outlier in a family-centric world.

A place to contemplate, reflect, dream, and get lost in as often as needed, this project has become a nostalgic formulation of my truth about the world. Hidden within this is the story of the pain suffered by one man and of my feelings toward him, my relationship with him, the story of love, feelings of inadequacy, torment, and joy. Often, a photograph can be misunderstood as an attempt to talk about self. Opposed to this idea, I see it as a mirror, a reflection of life itself. Far from imposing my ideas onto the audience, it is a way to find myself within this form, making my thoughts into form and speaking truth softly.

“Harness speech; let it become a windmill that can grind a harvest.” Hafiz

I make photographs exactly as I experience them and concerns about style, form, tone of voice, narrative, and words vanish. For grief is mute. This project is a pure and necessary articulation of the grief we feel. It is a confessional and intimate encounter and a way to give our grief form by throwing the veil of the image over an invisible form as an act of love, mercy, and contrition. It is to exclaim 'We were here! We are not insignificant’ and leave a lasting legacy for this world. Through this, the audience, too, may find solace and meaning.

YOUR child, MY child, EVERYONE's child ’Leaves lilac behind on the table to be remembered by’*

*from Eurydice- a poem by Arseniy Tarkovsky

CV/BIO

Lisa Jayne Cramer (b. 1964) is an Australian photographer based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Memberships:

  • Penumbra Foundation, NYC

  • Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne

  • Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne

  • NAVA 

Education:

  • 2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook, Penumbra Foundation, NYC

  • Pinhole Camera workshop, Shea Kirk, PHOTOREAL: Uncomfortable truths 2024, MAPh, Melbourne Australia

  • Large Format Camera workshop, Shea Kirk, 2023, Melbourne Australia

  • Silver Gelatin Darkroom Printing, Gold Street Studios, with Ellie Young, 2021, Victoria Australia

  • Seeing Through Photographs Certificate Course at The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, NYC, 2020

  • Creative Photography Certificate Course at Photography Studies College (Melbourne) 2016

 Achievements:

  • Scholarship recipient for the 2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook hosted by Penumbra Foundation, NYC

  • Honourable Mention Category 'Portrait', Fotonostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, 1st Choice Awards 2025, Barcelona, Spain

  • Finalist, Perth Centre for Photography COLLECTIVE 2024, Australia

  • Winner, Category Staff Favourite, ‘My mother’s hands’, MAPh LOOK! Prize 2024, Melbourne Australia

  • Second Prize, 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Australia

  • Honourable Mention, 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Awards 2024, Spain, Category Self Portrait Series ‘YOUR child, MY child, EVERYONE’S child’. Awarded work published in a special issue of FotoNostrum Magazine, Spain

  • Finalist, MAPh LOOK! Prize 2023, Melbourne Australia

  • Certificate of Excellence, Portfolio Presentation ‘Beautiful Age’, Photography Studies College Melbourne Australia, 2016

 Exhibitions: - Group:

  • Fotonostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, 1st Choice Awards, Barcelona, Spain November 2025

  • The Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition, to be held along with the Pollux Awards and the 8th Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography, FotoNostrum Barcelona, Spain 12 - 22 December 2024 and in April 2025

  • Perth Centre for Photography, COLLECTIVE 2024 6 December 2024

  • ‘My Mother’s Hands’, MAPh LOOK! exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia, 4 October - 2 December 2024

  • 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Photo Access, Manuka Arts Centre, Canberra, Australia, 13 - 29 June 2024

  • 2023 CCP x Hahnemühle Summer Salon, Melbourne Australia, 25 November - 17 December 2023

  • ‘Barbara The Beautiful’, MAPh LOOK! exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia, 30 August - 27 November 2023

  • ‘Somers Garden', Hillvale Photo Trophy, Melbourne Australia, 2023

© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project
© Lisa Jayne Cramer - Image from the YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. photography project

YOUR child. MY child. EVERYONE'S child. by Lisa Jayne Cramer

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