Juda Point, Maningrida in the Northern Territory.

“I was stunned and amazed by the unique landscape of the area which was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was truly beautiful,” says photographer Emily Hanna, who one the AIPP documentary photographer award for this work.

An young Aboriginal girl collects crabs on the beach of the coast community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

Aboriginal children from the Maningrida community in north-western Arnhem Land play in the town.

Says photographer Emily Hanna: “I left feeling connected to the community and with the highest regard for the people in it. Although there are issues in the community, it is progressive and the people there are doing the most fantastic work. I also left reflecting the simplicity of life for the indigenous people there – life in our big cities and communities is so complex and busy.”

Members of the Maningrida, Northern Territory, during a burn-off in a back yard.

Says Emily Hanna, who won an AIPP Australian Professional Photography Award for documentary work: “I absolutely love documentary photography and use this style in most work that I carry out whether it be a wedding, personal or family shot, I always endeavor to capture a true and honest reflection of life in anything that I do.”

An Aboriginal youth plays with fire in the Maningrida community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

An Aboriginal woman from the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory sweeps in preparation for a ceremony.

“I knew in advance that is was the highly sacred ceremony time at the time of my arrival and that I would have the opportunity to capture some of this. Most of this ceremony (which took place in all of the various different mobs across this community) lasted for about 10 days and was to initiate the boys of a particular age into manhood.

Without doubt, this was one of the most amazing cultural experiences of my life time and I am endlessly grateful to the community for excepting me and my family into the community throughout this time and providing me permission to document it in the photographic form.”

Members of the Aboriginal community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory dance to traditional music at a sacred ceremony to initiate boys into manhood.

This collection won Emily Hanna the documentary photographer of the year award from the AIPP.

Children play catch while waiting for the sacred ceremony to begin. The ceremony, in the Maningrida community in Arnhem Land, is to initiate boys into manhood.

Aboriginal boys, from the Maningrida community in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, dance during an initiation into manhood cermony.

Says Emily Hanna, who won an AIPP award for best documentary photographer for this work:
“I only had the opportunity to travel to this remote part of Australia as we had close friends living and working in the community and I had been granted permission to photograph there. I knew in advance that is was the highly sacred ceremony time at the time of my arrival and that I would have the opportunity to capture some of this.”