Lisa Jayne Cramer (b. 1964) is an Australian photographer based in Naarm (Melbourne), known for evocative, intention-rich images exploring the human condition and complex emotional states. Her work is intimate and deeply personal, working with analogue film she embraces soft focus and imperfections as metaphors for her own life of brokenness. Her photographic practice is a deeply personal enquiry into themes of longing, love, loss, identity, grief, decay and rebirth. Cramer uses qualities of abstract expressionism to honour the presence of absence. Her work is full of mystery and a haunting loveliness, evoking the sadness of loss, but also strength and a kind of transcending love. She frequently employs metaphorical imagery, most notably flowers such as roses and lilies, to convey layered themes of femininity, fertility, longing, and resilience. These symbols, especially the motif of the “Flower”, hold intimate personal meaning and serve as vessels for both beauty and sorrow.
Awards / Achievements:
2025 Scholarship recipient for the 2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook hosted by Penumbra Foundation, NYC
2025 Finalist, MAPh LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia
2025 Highly Commended, Black & White Category, Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers 2025, presented by Fujifilm
2025 Bronze Medal, International B&W Photography Awards, Self-Portrait Category ‘Hidden in the poetics- mimesis and katharsis’
2025 Honourable Mention, 26th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Spain, Category Self Portrait Series
2025 Honourable Mention, FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, 1st Choice Awards, Barcelona
2024 Finalist, Perth Centre for Photography COLLECTIVE 2024
2024 Finalist/Winner, Category Staff Favourite, ‘My mother’s hands’, MAPh LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography Melbourne Australia
2024 Second Prize, Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Photo Access, Canberra Australia
2024 Honourable Mention, 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Spain, Category Self Portrait Series ‘YOUR child, MY child, EVERYONE’S child’
2023 Finalist, MAPh LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia
2016 Certificate of Excellence, Portfolio Presentation ‘Beautiful Age’, Photography Studies College Melbourne
Exhibitions: - Group:
2025 ‘Consider the lilies’, MAPh LOOK! exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia, 1 October - 1 December
2025 The 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition, FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, Barcelona, Spain April 25 - May 14
2025 Cluster London Photography Fair, Curtain Call - Shoreditch, UK, 10 - 13 April
2025 FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, 1st Choice Awards, online Barcelona, Spain
2024 The 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition (part 1), held along with the Pollux Awards and the 8th Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography, FotoNostrum Barcelona, Spain 12 - 22 December
2024 Perth Centre for Photography, COLLECTIVE 2024 6 December
2024 ‘My Mother’s Hands’, MAPh LOOK! exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia, 4 October - 2 December
2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Photo Access, Manuka Arts Centre, Canberra, Australia, 13 - 29 June
2023 CCP x Hahnemühle Summer Salon, Melbourne Australia, 25 November - 17 December
2023 ‘Barbara The Beautiful’, MAPh LOOK! exhibition, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne Australia, 30 August - 27 November
2023 ‘Somers Garden', Hillvale Photo Trophy, Melbourne Australia
Publications:
2025 ‘Eyes on the world’, Kamira Institute, Paris France
2025 FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography 1st Choice Awards
2024 The 8th Biennale of Photography, FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography
2024 FotoNostrum Magazine, 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Awards
Memberships:
Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne
National Portrait Gallery, Australia
NAVA
Penumbra Foundation, NYC
Education:
2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook, Penumbra Foundation, NYC
2024 Pinhole Camera workshop, Shea Kirk, PHOTOREAL: Uncomfortable truths 2024, MAPh
2023 Large Format Camera workshop, Shea Kirk
2021 Silver Gelatin Darkroom Printing, Gold Street Studios, with Ellie Young
2020 Seeing Through Photographs Certificate Course (online) with The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, NYC
2016 Creative Photography Certificate Course at Photography Studies College (Melbourne)