Biography

Matthew Thorne (.1993) was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. His film and photographic work explores contemporary 'Australian' identity, spirituality, masculinity, and relationship to land, through blurred fiction/non-fiction frameworks, often working directly with real communities and people using co-created and re-enacted storytelling practices.

Matthew's work has been shown at various festivals including receiving the Silver Bear Jury Prize at Berlinale, Documentary Australia Prize at Sydney Film Festival, Best Short Documentary at Melbourne International Film Festival, and nomination for Best Short Documentary at the International Documentary Association Awards.

He received the Martin Kantor Portrait Prize (2023), Adelaide Film Festival & Samstag Gallery of Art Commission (2022), Australian Directors Guild Award for Music Video (2021), and was nominated for the Olive Cotton Award (2023), National Portrait Prize, Australia (2021), and Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, UK (2020).

Recently, Matthew has had solo shows at Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide (2023), Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria (2023), Canberra Museum and Gallery with their Sidney Nolan collection (2022), and been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (2021), National Portrait Gallery London (2020), and the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020).

He also contributed photography to Nick Cave and the Badseed’s album Ghosteen (2019), Justin Kurzel’s film True History of The Kelly Gang (2019), and Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant (2017), and has published two books Jingo was born in the slum (Jane & Jeremy, 2021), and For My Father (Palm*, 2018).

Matthew lives and works between Athens, Greece and Adelaide, 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 Portrait Prize, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney
  • 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