About dahlia
When I was 6, I cut my foot badly and required 9 stitches. As my mother was wrapping my dangling toes with a towel, she said to me, “this is nothing wait till you have a baby.” I had no choice but to grow up strong.
I'm known by my cousins as "Bint el Batouta", the daughter of the infamous Ibn Batouta, considered as one of the greatest travelers of all times. I've acquired that name because I've travelled from the day that I was born. My childhood memories are of crossing fast flowing rapids in the back of a red 1970’s VW beetle in tropical PNG, having holidays in the Philippines on a cargo ship that hoisted livestock aboard at every port and hitching a ride with a bus load of Sufi sheiks to reach the Ababda Bedouins in the remote mountains of southern Egypt. We never lived or travelled in luxury but our experiences were rich beyond measure. That is what has made me so adaptable and comfortable in whatever environment I’m in.
I’m old world in many ways. I’m awake before the first call of a rooster. I like quality not quantity. I row a boat rather than use a motor. I prefer sleeping in a swag than in a bed. I love cultural hand made clothes not the latest fashion and I love shopping in second hand shops not malls. I love diversity and think that difference is what makes life so interesting.
I followed my father as he photographed spiders in our garden, lizards in the undergrowth and colourful sing sings in the fields. He would lead me to places with his camera, made me look at things that I would normally have walked past. He was the one who introduced me to the art of photography and even though he didn’t call himself a photographer in my eyes he was. We grew up watching slide shows under ceiling fans. His images were so rich in character, colour and movement and our living room would come alive with their essence.
When we immigrated to Australia my sister wanted a horse, I wanted a camel. She learn to paint, I learnt to look after injured animals. When it was time for University I was dreaming of going to Africa to study animal behaviour but I ended up studying Cultural Anthropology instead. This led me deep into the Australian desert where I have been so fortunate to have worked with Anangu who can tell you the first time they saw a “white fella” and of surviving the nuclear tests of the 1950’s. Their stories are national treasures and I have increasingly felt a responsibility and urgency to capture their stories in the most effective way.
I started to explore ethnographic film and documentary format but am now drawn toward improving my photographic skills because while film has a place, I find it can get weighed down by the long process of layering sequences of images and audio together to create a story. I’m beginning to appreciate the purity, strength and practicality of photography. I love how you don’t need any equipment to view photographs. I love how no matter what language or cultural background you come from you can interpret and consume a photograph. It’s truly an art form that transcends over many boundaries effortlessly.
