Steven
Siewert

Steven Siewert

biography

Siewert has spent the past decade documenting stories of daily life in the Asia-Pacific region from Thai boy boxers to cargo cults. More recently, he has concentrated on portraiture and little-known Australian subcultures including pigeon racing and the Australian rockabilly scene.

His work has garnered many overseas and Australian awards including Pictures of the Year and he was the inaugural winner of the Centre for Contemporary Photography Documentary Photography Award.

He has twice been a recipient of the Walkley-Nikon portrait prize, and earned a Walkley in 2008 for his acclaimed series on Australian rockabillies, the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Sydney in the same year.

His photographs were showcased in France’s Arles Photography Festival in 2009 and have been exhibited  at the Leica Gallery in Solms, Germany, Galerie Polka, Paris and the Muséum of the Chateau de Clervaux in Luxemburg.

In Australia his work has been shown at the Art Gallery of NSW, the State Library of NSW, the Museum of Sydney, the Albury Regional Art Gallery and the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne.

Siewert co-authored The Last ANZACS, a black and white portrait study of veterans from the 1915 Gallipoli campaign published by Allen and Kemsley.

His work has appeared in the Good Weekend, Geo Italy, marie clare, Russia, Estonia, Mexico and The Guardian newspaper, London.

Siewert lives in Sydney and joined Oculi in 2006.

Series

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly !, 2011

Serie | Vintage swimsuits contests, concerts and show of more than 700 classic cars punctuate the 4 days of the biggest Rockabilly rally in the world. Every year, the "Viva Las Vegas Festival" takes place in the Orleans Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.
..

Festival Jane Austen, Australie, 2011

Serie | Two hundred years ago was the first time Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility“ was published. For the past 4 years, an offshoot of the famous Jane Austen Festival in Bath (England) has been held in April in Canberra, the Australian capital...

Tokyo’s Rockabillies, 2009

Series | Japan is reputedly the second largest market in Asia after Australia for sales of Elvis music....

Junior sumo wrestlers of Japan, 2008

Serie | Although sumo was recently dethroned by baseball and football, it continues to be an extremely popular sport in Japan, especially since it is the oldest and is linked to Shinto...

Rockabilly (portraits), 2007

These ‘photo booth’ portraits were created in small makeshift studios during the Fifties Fair at Rose Seidler House and backstage at GreazeFest in Brisbane in 2007.

Rockabilly, living the 50's in Australia (2004-2007)

Serie | The 1950’s were an exuberant decade that saw the birth of rock’n’roll, new fashions and social mores, and a breakaway generation who were the first to be known as teenagers.
At the turn of the 21st century there are some for whom the 1950’s never died...

Pigeon racing in Australia, 2005

Series | This story is above all an aesthetic research..

Crystal Children in Thailand, 2002

Series | Shan Buddist Ceremony for young novice monks held at WatPa Pao in Chiang Mai, North-Western Thailand. ..

Looking for John Frum, Vanuatu, 1999

Series | You could hear them before you could see them, these footsoldiers of John Frum.
In clammy equatorial heat, U-S-A scrawled in red paint on bare backs, wearing only blue jeans, they march in step...

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly !, 2011

Serie | Vintage swimsuits contests, concerts and show of more than 700 classic cars punctuate the 4 days of the biggest Rockabilly rally in the world. Every year, the "Viva Las Vegas Festival" takes place in the Orleans Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.
..

Festival Jane Austen, Australie, 2011

Serie | Two hundred years ago was the first time Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility“ was published. For the past 4 years, an offshoot of the famous Jane Austen Festival in Bath (England) has been held in April in Canberra, the Australian capital...

Tokyo’s Rockabillies, 2009

Series | Japan is reputedly the second largest market in Asia after Australia for sales of Elvis music....

Junior sumo wrestlers of Japan, 2008

Serie | Although sumo was recently dethroned by baseball and football, it continues to be an extremely popular sport in Japan, especially since it is the oldest and is linked to Shinto...

Rockabilly (portraits), 2007

These ‘photo booth’ portraits were created in small makeshift studios during the Fifties Fair at Rose Seidler House and backstage at GreazeFest in Brisbane in 2007.

Rockabilly, living the 50's in Australia (2004-2007)

Serie | The 1950’s were an exuberant decade that saw the birth of rock’n’roll, new fashions and social mores, and a breakaway generation who were the first to be known as teenagers.
At the turn of the 21st century there are some for whom the 1950’s never died...

Pigeon racing in Australia, 2005

Series | This story is above all an aesthetic research..

Crystal Children in Thailand, 2002

Series | Shan Buddist Ceremony for young novice monks held at WatPa Pao in Chiang Mai, North-Western Thailand. ..

Looking for John Frum, Vanuatu, 1999

Series | You could hear them before you could see them, these footsoldiers of John Frum.
In clammy equatorial heat, U-S-A scrawled in red paint on bare backs, wearing only blue jeans, they march in step...

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly !, 2011

Serie | Vintage swimsuits contests, concerts and show of more than 700 classic cars punctuate the 4 days of the biggest Rockabilly rally in the world. Every year, the "Viva Las Vegas Festival" takes place in the Orleans Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.
..

Festival Jane Austen, Australie, 2011

Serie | Two hundred years ago was the first time Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility“ was published. For the past 4 years, an offshoot of the famous Jane Austen Festival in Bath (England) has been held in April in Canberra, the Australian capital...

Tokyo’s Rockabillies, 2009

Series | Japan is reputedly the second largest market in Asia after Australia for sales of Elvis music....

Junior sumo wrestlers of Japan, 2008

Serie | Although sumo was recently dethroned by baseball and football, it continues to be an extremely popular sport in Japan, especially since it is the oldest and is linked to Shinto...

Rockabilly (portraits), 2007

These ‘photo booth’ portraits were created in small makeshift studios during the Fifties Fair at Rose Seidler House and backstage at GreazeFest in Brisbane in 2007.

Rockabilly, living the 50's in Australia (2004-2007)

Serie | The 1950’s were an exuberant decade that saw the birth of rock’n’roll, new fashions and social mores, and a breakaway generation who were the first to be known as teenagers.
At the turn of the 21st century there are some for whom the 1950’s never died...

Pigeon racing in Australia, 2005

Series | This story is above all an aesthetic research..

Crystal Children in Thailand, 2002

Series | Shan Buddist Ceremony for young novice monks held at WatPa Pao in Chiang Mai, North-Western Thailand. ..

Looking for John Frum, Vanuatu, 1999

Series | You could hear them before you could see them, these footsoldiers of John Frum.
In clammy equatorial heat, U-S-A scrawled in red paint on bare backs, wearing only blue jeans, they march in step...

awards

Art and Culture Awards – International Scoop and Journalism Festival of Angers (France)

For his subject “Life in Rockabilly”

2008

The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism (Australia)

For his subject “Life in Rockabilly”

2008