Bruce

"The 1972 Whitlam government handed over 'The Block' (near Sydney’s CBD) to Indigenous self-determination; a political headache for consecutive state governments who wanted to dismantle the place but reluctant to try.

I had read about efforts host cities make to clean up 'undesirable' areas before the Olympics. In 1999, the year before the Sydney Games, I started "The Block".

Attempts to relocate indigenous tenants failed - the confluence of a heroin glut and emptied housing facilitated a thriving drug culture.

One morning, I attempted to introduce myself to a group preparing a hit. The first response came fast and loud - "fuck off, get the fuck out of here". I didn't argue. Retreating, I heard "no, come on in. This is what whitey needs to see, how we live here in this country" said Bruce, poised to thrust a needle into bulging, bloody flesh. We spent hours talking as they shot up and smoked cones well into their post-euphoric haze."

Biography:
Dean Sewell has made his name as an independent documentary photographer focusing on the social implications of the new globalised world economy and the environmental consequences exerted by climate change.

In 2013, he was one of 20 photographers world-wide invited to Russia to produce a reportage in the steel city of Cherepovets for ‘The Russian Moment’ which culminated in ‘A week of Photography’ as part of the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg.

Sewell has won Australian Press Photographer of the Year (1994 and 1998), World Press Photo Awards (2000, 2002 and 2005), the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize (2009 and 2010) and was awarded artist residencies in the remote gold-mining town of Hill End, NSW (2005 and 2008).

Sewell’s work is held in both public and private collections. He is a founding member of Oculi (2000), Australia’s pre-eminent independent collective of Australian documentary photographers.