Raymond

2025 - 2026

Finalist in the 2026 Bowness Photography Prize, Museum of Australian Photography MAPH.

This photograph captures Raymond Guymala burning Country across the West Arnhem plateau. Within the movement of smoke and flame, knowledge is being passed from one generation to the next. Raymond reads the wind, fire and Country with an understanding shaped by thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. He carries a mental map of the landscape, its seasons, stories, habitats and pathways – guiding where and when fire should move.

This photograph records a single moment in time, yet it belongs to a vast cultural continuum that reaches deep into the past and forwards into the future. Through fire, learning and connection, the image reflects the enduring relationship held between Bininj and Country, and the living knowledge that continues to shape both.