A documentary photographer carrying an old 1970s film camera is currently wandering Canberra’s streets to capture conversation and candid snapshots of the lives and experiences of ordinary locals.
Oskah Dunnin, a former ANU student who’s been exhibited in New York and picked up by the United Nations, is working on a photo series called Faces of Today and you may well become a part of it.
Surprisingly, approaching strangers in the street with questions and a lens isn’t as hard as it sounds.
“Humans are social creatures and like with any social encounter, the conversation starts long before even a word is said,” Oskah said. “It helps that I’m upfront – I always introduce myself clearly as a photographer working on a portrait project… You build rapport as quickly as possible and the questions I ask get the subject to talk about themselves – and who doesn’t like doing that?”
Approaching random people in the street does come with its risks, however, and Oskah (who has photographed across Asia from India to Japan, including volatile protests and political upheaval) said rejection was more common in Canberra.
“There are few negative experiences I can recall and they aren’t uncommon for street photographers,” he said. “Oddly enough, this does seem to be a Canberra thing – I’ve never had similar issues elsewhere. Street photography comes down to conflict management… At some point, you develop a second sense for who says yes, who says no, and who is just angry with the world.”
His photos may be in black and white, but Oskah’s subjects are colourful. During Canberra’s Multicultural Festival, Oskah met a Chinese painter who had learned to draw under Soviet-influenced methods and was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution and then worked as a military propagandist. He now sketches portraits in Canberra.
“At the Haig Village Markets, I met a man who lost his fiancée in a tragic fall, holding on to their silly private jokes as a form of memory, healing, and processing the weight of trauma,” Oskah said. “I recall fondly what he had to tell me, ‘The dumbest things are what you end up remembering.’”
If anything, Oskah’s candid images demonstrate that there is no such thing as the perceived “Canberra bubble”, and Canberrans are not just public servants, politicians or journalists isolated from life’s struggles.
“Near the Civic skatepark, I encountered a man who spoke with me about the futility of anger and the importance of controlling emotion,” Oskah said. “He reflects on childhood rage, finding discipline through martial arts, and realising compassion matters more than confrontation.”
Oskah’s raw photos bring into stark focus the invisible people on our streets and his project has shown him that “everyone, no matter the place nor struggle, has a desire to feel seen”.
“Falling into loneliness is the easiest grave,” he said. “Strip away the politics and noise and most people just want someone to listen, really listen. That’s what connects us: the need for presence, for being acknowledged as more than just a passing body in a crowd, to remind us we aren’t as alone as we think – even if it’s just for a few minutes on a Canberra footpath.”
Follow Oskah Dunnin on Instagram @oscarhugo_ or Faces of Today on Facebook.
