Barbara McGrady
Barbara McGrady (born 1950) is an Indigenous Australian photographer based in Sydney.  Biography. Barbara McGrady was born in Mungindi, New South Wales. McGrady is a Gamilaraay woman, who started taking photos of her family and surroundings as a teenager with a camera her mother bought her. Her fascination with photo journalism was sparked by black and white photographs of black sportsmen and sportswomen in magazines like "Time" and "Life", "National Geographic", "Esquire" and "Reader's Digest". McGrady has been photographing political and social events of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and families of the Redfern, Surry  Hills and Waterloo communities for 30 years from her perspective as a Gamilaraay woman. McGrady comes from the north-west of NSW and Southern Queensland. McGrady is a survivor who has lived in two worlds, black and white. Her aunts were removed from the family and sent to Cootamundra Girls Home while the men were sent to work as indentured labourers. Career. McGrady specialises in recording indigenous sporting figures and events. Among the famous people McGrady has photographed are prominent activist for Australia's First Nations People, Gary Foley, a human rights activist, and historian at the University of Victoria . According to Foley, McGrady is a "true historian" because she documents aboriginal experience. Her works include iconic images of Adam Goodes with Louis Jetta and Lance (Buddy) Franklin and the indigenous round football trophy, world champion Aboriginal boxer Anthony "Choc" Mundine, the Koori Knockout Carnival (one of the biggest Indigenous gatherings in Australia) and the Sista Girls of the Sydney Mardi Gras. As part of the 2020 Biennale of Sydney, McGrady's work was hung in the NSW Art Gallery. Her 2013 image of TJ Hickey's family was hung in the NSW Gallery's Entrance Court. However the Biennale  was cancelled and the Gallery closed in line with the NSW government's COVID-19 social distancing regulations.