Glenn Lockitch is an Australian documentary photographer and educator renowned for his powerful storytelling and commitment to social justice.
With a career spanning decades, his work captures the raw realities of human rights issues, environmental challenges, and Indigenous struggles, offering an unflinching lens into stories often overlooked.
Southern Ocean Antarctica, 2013. The anti-whaling Sea Shepherd ship, the Bob Barker, is dangerously rammed by the Japanese factory ship, the Nisshin Maru (out of shot to the left), into the whaling fleet’s fuel supply tanker, the Sun Laurel (right). The Bob Barker placed itself between the Nisshin Maru and the Sun Laurel to stop the Nisshin Maru from refuelling. The Nisshin Maru unsuccessfully tried to refuel on two separate occasions, culminating in the Nisshin Maru having to leave Antarctica to refuel in Indonesia, and thus ending the whaling season. 932 whales were saved in this campaign. Glenn Lockitch
Lockitch's photographs combine artistic sensitivity with a profound sense of purpose, serving as a powerful voice for change. Covering a wide range of critical issues—such as the impact of mining on Indigenous communities and the environment, the anti-corporate globalisation movement, social injustice, Australian Aboriginal issues, environmental destruction, and animal rights—Lockitch's work resonates deeply with audiences worldwide.
Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Sydney, 2015. Indigenous people from the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy (RATE) perform a fire and dancing ceremony with supporters in opposition to a controversial multi-million dollar development by the Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC). The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy, which occurred continuously over fifteen months, was created on 26th May 2014 in the heart of inner-city Sydney on the historical site of the first land granted by the Australian Government to Aboriginal people. Indigenous people from around Australia followed the unfolding protest primarily on social media and in the mainstream news. Image: Glenn Lockitch.
His photographs have been widely exhibited both in Australia and internationally, including a 25-year retrospective at the Australian Centre for Photography in 2018. His work has been featured in Australian and global media and has earned notable recognition, such as the People’s Choice Award at the Reportage Photojournalism Festival in 2005.
He has also been a finalist in prestigious awards, including the New York Photo Festival Book Category in 2009, a semi-finalist in the 2022 Australian Photography Awards (Landscape Category), and the 2021 Head On Photo Festival (Landscape Category). Additionally, he co-produced the sellout digital projection show Cross Projections and served as a jurist for the Walkley Awards in 2016.
Southern Ocean, Antarctica, 2010. The front edge of an iceberg collapses into the surrounding ocean. My camera was sitting on my strap as the iceberg started to collapse. I quickly grabbed it from my waist, and shooting from the hip, I continuously pressed the shutter button whilst moving my camera in an arc shape hoping to level out the horizon in the arc movement to capture the collapse of the ice. Image: Glenn Lockitch
Since 2010, he's taught photojournalism and photography in a diverse range of courses at the Australian Centre for Photography, the National Art School and Sydney Photographic Workshops and hold a Master of Visual Arts (Photojournalism) from Queensland College of the Arts (QCA), Griffith University.
Twilight Fair, Campbelltown, Sydney, 2024. Spiderman eating an icecream. Shot during the Twilight Fair whilst doing a job for Campbelltown City Council. Image: Glenn Lockitch.World Pride, Mardi Gras, Sydney, 2023. The celebratory crowd in the back streets of East Sydney after the World Pride parade. Image: Glenn Lockitch.Southern Ocean, Antarctica, 2010. The Sea Shepherd ship, the Ady Gil, rammed and fatally damaged the day before by the Japanese Government security ship, the Shonan Maru 2, is towed by another Sea Shepherd, the Bob Barker, initially to a French navy-scientific base in the Antarctic. After a day and a half of the Bob Barker unsuccessfully towing the Ady Gil all fuel and contaminants were removed and it was left behind so that the Bob Barker could continue to hunt down the Japanese whaling fleet. The Sea Shepherd Waltzing Matilda Antarctic Campaign 2009/2010 was the most successful Antarctic campaign in its history to date, saving 528 whales and costing the Japanese whalers over $100 million. Image: Glenn LockitchMindanao, southern Philippines, 1996. Datu Magoling of the indigenous B’laan tribe. Datu (Chief) Magoling refused to accept a bribe from an Australian gold mining company and local government officials, who had paid him a visit threatening reprisals if mining did not go ahead. One month later the B'laan people were machine gunned, bombed and had their property destroyed by the Philippine military in the company’s (WMC) mining concession area. Eight B’laan people were killed and 120 families displaced. I travelled with a medical relief and fact-finding mission for a week in the mountains of the southern Philippine island to document the events that had occurred two weeks before. Image: Glenn LockitchSydney City, 1998. Fretilin, East Timor independence protesters and supporters rally in Sydney. Thousands of protesters marched to then Prime Minister John Howard’s office in the city, placing pressure on the Australian Government, who ultimately sent troops into East Timor. After decades of human rights abuses, Indonesia withdrew from East Timor. Image: Glenn Lockitch.A DJ (top right) holds his head in horror straight after his laptop crashes to the ground, whilst party revelers dance in the back streets of East Sydney during World Pride. Unbeknown to me, the dj’s laptop crashed down over the balcony (out of shot to the right) as I took this photo. I heard a loud bang and the partying girls (below) asked me if I managed to capture the shot of the laptop. It was only after examining my photo later on did I realise that I captured the dj’s expression of horror straight after the laptop fell. Image: Glenn LockitchIceberg. Image Glenn Lockitch
