Lilli Waters

Lilli Waters (born 1983, Armidale, NSW) is a Thai-Australian fine arts photographer whose work delves into the human condition, capturing dramatic portrayals of the female form amidst haunting, windswept landscapes and ethereal underwater still lifes.

Her images have a painterly quality, evoking the Renaissance and Pre-Raphaelite eras. They contain elements of the macabre and foreboding, a jewel-like palette, and a delicate play of light. Waters often uses translucent fabrics, veils, and flowing hair to obscure the identities of her subjects, suggesting that her portraits serve as much as mirrors for the viewer as they do representations of the women depicted.

At first glance, Waters’ work seems to present a romantic vision of beauty, exploring the parallels between the fertility of the female body and the landscape. Yet, in the context of the ‘Me Too’ movement and the ongoing ecological crisis, her work offers a critical feminine gaze. Her portraits address the paradox of existing as a woman—how one navigates physical agency and ease in a society that objectifies women while simultaneously ravaging the environment. These images convey layered emotions, balancing darkness and luminosity, strength and vulnerability, while offering new perspectives rooted in an awareness of our reliance on the earth.

Waters’ ecological concerns are also evident in her underwater still life series, which references the lighting and composition of Northern Renaissance paintings. These works feature live marine creatures amidst rocks, fruit, plants, and flowers, evoking other-worldly landscapes with a distinct sense of space and suspended time. In portraying luxuriant yet fragile beauty, Waters offers a poignant reminder of the looming loss of entire species and ecosystems due to climate change.

Waters’ work has been exhibited internationally in Italy, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, and Australia, earning widespread acclaim. Her images have appeared in numerous global publications, including Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Real Living, and Belle (Australia); Art Aesthetica (UK); Il Fotografo (Italy); FotoNostrum (Barcelona), Austrian Living (Austria); and The Opera and Pétala Magazine (Germany). Her work has also been featured in films such as Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed (USA).

Her works have been recognised with several prestigious awards, including being the winner of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award (2024), Du Rietz Art Award (2021), and the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Photography Award (2020, 2022). She has also been a finalist in prizes such as the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize (2021, 2022), the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art (2021, 2022), the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2020), the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize (2020, 2022), the Du Rietz Art Awards (2020), the Percival Photographic Art Prize (2020), the National Portrait Prize (2019), the Australian Photography Awards (2018–2023), and the Aesthetica Art Award (2018). In 2023, her moving image works were exhibited at Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, as part of her solo exhibition Pay Attention to the Heavens.

Lilli Waters lives and works in Melbourne / Naarm, Australia.