Martine Perret is a photographic artist who was born in Paris and now lives and works from her base in Margaret River. She is known for her startlingly beautiful portrayal of the Western Australian landscape, often employing aerial captures and portraiture to tell important stories of our times. Her approach to artistic work is based a career in photojournalism, which includes a decade covering UN peacekeeping missions in conflict zones such as South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Timor-Leste, and West Africa, where she documented the Ebola crisis.
Recent projects like Ngala Wongga (Come Talk), Cultural Significance of Languages in the Goldfields, and Belong: Language Connecting Feeling, Culture, Country exhibition at the WA Museum Boola Bardip highlight the importance of First Nations’ languages.
In December 2022, Martine was honoured to travel to Paris with Wardandi Elders Vivian Brockman Webb, Mitchella Hutchins, and artist Roly Skender to launch the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This included the presentation of the collaborative audio-visual work Wannang Biridge (Light of the Peppermint Tree), originally created at The Farm Margaret River, following a residency with SymbioticA on photomicrography at CELLCentral in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at The University of Western Australia.
Current collaboration with Wardandi Elders titled “Djanung Nala Meela – Looking through our eyes” recently exhibited at the Museum of the Great Southern and features three interconnected installations weaving together the threads of language, identity and spirituality, showcasing Aboriginal perspectives through immersive audiovisual displays, striking photographs and rich narratives.