Living With Change
A Portrait of Adaptation and Resilience: Lismore three years on from the floods
In the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, flooding has always been part of life. But in February 2022, the town of Lismore was devastated by the worst floods in its history. Water rose to 14.4 metres, breaching the levee, and setting a record by more than two metres.
During my week photographing and speaking with residents and businesses, no one questioned the risk of more frequent or severe weather events. They spoke instead about how to adapt.
These images, captured in April 2025, depict ingenuity, personal resilience, and community collaboration – solutions relevant to any community that needs to reshape its future in the face of rising waters.
The Leaving
Three years on from the floods – eighty homes, eighty departures. Each house pictured belonged to a family in Lismore who accepted a government buyout to leave the floodplain permanently. Empty and silent, the buildings remain as placeholders of lives already in motion — photographs of an absence. The image explores the scale and quiet emotion of managed retreat in the face of climate impacts. Together, these homes become a single portrait of a town in transition, where the past still stands while the future is rebuilt elsewhere.
HEAD ON EXPOSURE AWARDS 2025
AUSTRALIAN RUNNER UP
