Fran Miller
Frances 'Fran' Miller is a Sydney born photographer now living on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Specialising in fine art surf and water photography, Fran's work has been published in numerous publications across Europe, Asia and Australia, having worked with a large number of world-renowned brands and surfers. In 2017, Fran was ranked no.2 best female surf photographer in the world by Tracks magazine and was featured globally in Canon's Women in Surf campaign. Having exhibited in major Australian art festivals, Fran has had her work purchased by major clients including Ralph Lauren and Wyndham Hotels, and her photographs are hanging in private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Sydney.
In 2019, Fran will be working with the AgUnity foundation photographing their joint World Food Programme project in Ethiopia as well as bringing to life a major project photographed on her travels through the Spice Islands, West Timor and Papua New Guinea last year.
"Instinctively, I enjoy taking photographs that leave the viewer with more questions than answers. I am a surfer, and I am passionate about the ocean. However, I crave creating pieces that explore moods and feelings rather than being solely documentative whilst still using surfing and the ocean as my medium.
I take diverse and somewhat incoherent inspiration from a wide spectrum of artists. I am currently enjoying exploring national archives of historical images that document critical moments in time. I endeavour for my audience to be perplexed, questioning, critical and reflective."
The following body of images is from a new body of work called My Country!
My Country an ongoing body of work that explores my own connection to the land of Australia. It asks questions that challenge the influence of dominant colonial and settler narratives as the basis for forming my beliefs and values in how I connect to Australia as a surfer, woman and person of both Asian and European heritage. This body of work explores cultural genocide and assimilation from both historic and current contexts, and how groups that fall outside of these dominant constructs are alienated and outcast. The goal of these photographs is to ask the viewer to question why they believe what they believe and to explore old and new ways of deepening our connection to Australia by valuing all ways and forms of knowing.
