by photographer Jon Lewis
2003 FiftyCrows PhotoFund Finalist

Jon Lewis has been chronicling the indigenous cultures of Australia and its island nations since the late 1970’s. “Trouble with the Neighbours” is the fruit of an eight-year ongoing project focusing on the inhabitants of Australia’s near north, a region stretching from East Timor to the Solomon Islands, encompassing West Papua, Papua New Guinea, and Bougainville. His portraits are an effort to foster visibility for these overlooked cultures shadowed by colonial histories, as well as to bear witness to their volatile socio-economic state at present.