Captured by award-winning photojournalist Jacklyn Wagner, a selection of portraits featuring Lismore flood survivors is on display now at NSW Parliament. The showcase can be found outside the Parliament's famed Strangers' Restaurant and can viewed on weekdays between 9am and 5pm until Thursday 24 November 2022.

Described as a "love letter to Lismore and its resilient spirit", the exhibition features 25 portraits taken in homes across the city following the February 2022 flooding. It's being hosted at Parliament by Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin MP.

FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHER:

"Walking and driving around the streets [following the flood]… there was an adrenalin-like energy; hundreds of people were helping each other in countless ways.  In the back of my mind were the first stirrings of what I might do photographically. I decided I would just let it come to me.

"A fortnight later, I woke up one morning and knew exactly what I needed to do. I would document the actuality of residents in their ruined surroundings, if they would let me, exactly as I found them. I would simply ask them - people who had lost everything or saved something; people who now needed to start reclaiming their homes and lives - if I may take a picture of them. No lights, no paraphernalia - just a picture.

"I knew it was important to document these moments in time…"

Pictured in main image, above: Jill Witham, who has lived in her South Lismore home for six years. “I was rescued from my neighbours’ roof from where I watched my own home go under”. 

Visit the exhibition at NSW Parliament House on weekdays, 9am-5pm, until Thursday 24 November 2022. Entry is via the gatehouse to the left of the building, and the photos can be found in the corridor linking the Fountain Court to the Strangers' Restaurant.