Biography
Matthew Thorne (b.1993 Adelaide, South Australia) is a filmmaker and artist whose work explores contemporary 'Australian' identity, spirituality, relationship to land, and masculinity through film, photography, and reenactment.
His latest short film Marungka Tjalatjunu (2023), a docufiction made with Yankunytjatjara man Derik Lynch about his story, received the Silver Bear Jury Prize at Berlinale, Documentary Australia Prize at Sydney Film Festival, and Best Short Documentary at Melbourne International Film Festival.
Other short and mid-length films include The Sand That Ate The Sea (2020) a docufictional film examining the remote South Australian opal mining community of Andamooka, and GAIB (2019) a short documentary essay film made with the community of Batu Keras, West Java.
Matthew has also photographed for Nick Cave and the Badseed’s album Ghosteen (2019), and Justin Kurzel’s film True History of The Kelly Gang (2019). He also contributed to Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant (2017) as photographer and additional director, and worked with Glendyn Ivin to create the title sequence for his TV series Gallipoli (2015).
Recently Matthew’s work has been exhibited at Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide (2023), the Canberra Museum and Gallery with their Sidney Nolan collection (2022), National Portrait Gallery of Australia (2021), National Portrait Gallery London (2020), National Museum of Australia (2020), and the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020).
He was also recipient of the Adelaide Film Festival & Samstag Gallery of Art Commission (2022), Australian Directors Guild Award Music Video (2021), and nominated for the Martin Kantor Portrait Prize (2023), Olive Cotton Award (2023), National Portrait Prize, Australia (2021), and Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, UK (2020).
Matthew has published two books, For My Father (Palm*, 2018) and Jingo was born in the slum (Jane & Jeremy, 2021).
He currently lives and works between Athens, and Australia.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2023 'Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)', LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos
- 2023 Out the back of beyond, GAGProjects / Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- 2022 Jingo was born in the slum (with the Sidney Nolan collection), Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra
- 2019 The Sand That Ate The Sea, Sun Studios, Sydney
- 2019 Gaib, Tinning Street Presents, Melbourne
- 2019 The Sand That Ate The Sea, 222 Gallery, Melbourne
Group Exhibitions
- 2023 Martin Kantor Portrait Prize, Ballarat Photo Festival
- 2023 Olive Cotton Award, Tweed Regional Gallery
- 2022 Timeless, Hawke Centre, University of South Australia
- 2022 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
- 2021 Living Memory: National Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
- 2021 A New Beginning, Photographic Museum of Humanity, Binario Centrale, Bologna
- 2021 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
- 2020 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London
- 2020 Love In The Time of COVID19, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- 2019 Click, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
- 2019 Clip, Centre for Photography, Perth
- 2018 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
Film Festivals
- 2023 Berlinale, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 Sydney Film Festival, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 Adelaide Film Festival, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 DOC NYC, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 AFI Fest, Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2023 RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal), Marungka tjalatjunu
- 2019 Revelations: Perth International Film Festival, The Sand That Ate The Sea
- 2019 St Kilda Film Festival, The Sand That Ate The Sea
Publications
-
2021
Jingo Was Born in the Slum / Jane & Jeremy (UK)
- 2018 For My Father / Palm* (UK) / ISBN: 978-0-9934450-4-0
Press
- 2023 fisheye Magazine
- 2023 The Saturday Paper
- 2022 The Guardian
- 2021 PhMuseum
- 2020 The Guardian
- 2020 Directors Notes
- 2019 AnotherMag
- 2018 The Heavy Collective
- 2018 fisheye Magazine