Words By

With a style reminiscent of a Renaissance painting, the work of fine artist and photographer Lilli Waters will compel you to pause and reflect on the beauty that surrounds us here on Earth.

Born and raised in Armidale, Lilli Waters is an award-winning fine artist and photographer known for her gentle and reflective portrayal of complex subjects. Her fine art work concerns itself with the fragility of the natural world, and this theme bleeds into her photography too. Photos of limp flowers at a dining setting, or foliage being ripped out of a woman’s stocking, evoke thoughts of the turbulent relationship humans have with nature.

In one photo, a bee smaller than a fingernail rests dangerously close to a woman’s eye. Both look powerless to the strength of the other. Photos like this one beg the question, if we continue to harm the natural world, will it harm us back? Themes of interdependence weave their way through Waters’ photos, where shadow and light lean up against each other in the frame, and where muted palettes provide a grounding for bold pops of colour.

One of the most notable elements of Waters’ work is that you’ll rarely see a full face in her photos. She makes use of long hair, translucent fabrics, silhouettes and tight crops to obscure the identities of her subjects, to suggest that, “the image might be just as much a mirror for the viewer, as it is a portrait”. When you look through the images below, what do you see in yourself?

“If we continue to harm the natural world, will it harm us back?”