Heartland

An exhibition of collaborative portraits of queer life across Victoria.

Heartland is a collaborative fine art photography series and public exhibition by Emily Dynes, documenting queer lives across regional Victoria.

Travelling by converted van in a sprawling roadtrip across the state, Emily collaborated with LGBTQIA+ communities to create magic realist portraits showcasing life out of the city. From ocean to desert, forest to mountain, across the Mornington Peninsula, Castlemaine, High country, the Mallee region, and Gippsland - Heartland explores how the shapeshifting Australian landscape mirrors something essential about queerness; its fluidity, it's metamorphosis.

Together, artist and participant identified a story about living where they live, then built the visual world around it: sourcing costumes and props, choosing locations, and constructing scenes.

Heartland is presented a completed series of portraits at Victoria's Pride Street Party 2027, bringing the faces and stories of regional queer Victorians directly into Melbourne's Pride celebrations.