ALICIA Fox’s stunning series of photographs are helping to raise awareness of the plight of tribal people living in remote parts of the globe.
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A freelance photographer for the past 10 years, Alicia has travelled extensively throughout Latin America and most recently, to Papua New Guinea documenting indigenous people through photos with the Cool Earth charity. The charity works alongside villagers to halt rainforest destruction.
While Alicia’s photos help the charity promote their work they are also helping to preserve memories and raise awareness of the indigenous people’s oppression and vulnerability to outside influences.
The opportunity to work with the charity came up by chance for Alicia when she and her husband, James, were travelling through Peru.
“We travelled to the Amazon to simply check out the regular tourist attractions,” she said.
“But when we got there and I started looking around, I noticed how much (rainforest) destruction was going on and how much it was impacting the tribal people there.
“I don’t know why but something just grabbed me. I guess I’m quite environmental. I just thought ‘I need to know more about this, I need to photograph this and use my skills to share what’s going on’ so I started contacting different environmental charities involved with the local communities.”
Alicia and James spent three months travelling the Amazon visiting different tribes. They spent two weeks with Cool Earth where Alicia photographed local tribes people going about their daily lives.
Her most recent trip saw her and her husband travel to PNG to do another photo documentary project with local village people.
“They (Cool Earth) asked me to come over for a 10 day trip to PNG and go with them as they began the project,” she said.
“They knew I could rough it and handle it from the last trip. It was a pretty hardcore living situation, they live in huts and it’s very basic – I guess a lot of people wouldn’t be too comfortable with it.
“We stayed in the villages and basically tried to get emotive yet realistic photographs of the people to help with their funding.
“My photos are still very real though I don’t set anything up. It’s very honest for the charity work.”
She described both trips as challenging but equally moving.
“I like to take an inspiring angle with my work and have a positive message through my photos instead of the doom and gloom and the negative news we sometimes hear,” she said.
“I felt privileged to be able to help with letting people know what’s happening in these countries because that sort of information isn’t always readily available.
“Some of it was exhausting work but my best memories were definitely the people they were so giving and generous especially the kids – I
got up at sunrise each day to take photos and there would be a trail of kids following me and helping me.
“They don’t have much but are so happy and always smiling which made me feel good.”
When the trip ended, Alicia and James returned to Sydney to live, but the fast paced nature of the city soon got too much for them and they left in search of a slower paced lifestyle.
“We literally spent six months driving between Sydney and Brisbane looking for somewhere to settle that we really liked. We came across Crescent Head and we just knew it was for us,” she said.
“It’s a really nice community, it’s got great weather and it’s a beautiful place – it ticked all the boxes.”
Since being based here, Alicia has taken promotional photos for South West Rocks label Indii Swimwear and the brand’s newest venture – the SaltSista Surf Sessions for Indigenous girls. She was also employed to take photos of Indigenous elders from the Kempsey region for the Painting Country, Mapping the Macleay art and film project.
“My speciality is people but that can range anywhere from fashion, beauty, portraiture and travel and documentary,” Alicia said.
“Through my work I’ve met some really great people. I find it inspiring to meet people who are putting in so much effort to help others and I find that a lot in Kempsey.
“There are some people here that are so dedicated to the organisations and projects that they are working on.
“No day is ever the same for me. My job is never boring and it’s always a good challenge.”
Alicia hopes to do another overseas project with Cool Earth in the near future.