Lisa Jayne Cramer is an Australian photographer based in Melbourne/Naarm.

For as long as she can remember, she has felt most at peace holding a camera. Drawn to analogue photography and performative self-portraiture, she found a way to express how she experiences and understands the world.

Cramer’s photographic practice is a deeply personal enquiry into love, longing, grief and beauty. Drawing upon qualities of abstract expressionism, she explores the constant presence of absence through collage, performative imagery and metaphor. Flowers, particularly roses and lilies, recur throughout her work as symbols of fertility, decay, femininity and resilience, becoming vessels for both beauty and sorrow.

Her photographs have been exhibited throughout Australia and internationally, including in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the United States and Japan. Her work is held in private collections across Australia, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Mexico. She has been published in FotoNostrum Magazine (Barcelona, 2024) and Eyes on the World (Kamira Institute, Paris, 2025).

Cramer is a proud alumna of the 2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook at Penumbra Foundation, New York, through which she developed her first photobook, FLOWER under ether. The artist-produced edition was completed in December 2025 and is held in the permanent collection of State Library Victoria.

In 2026, FLOWER under ether was awarded the inaugural Ephemere Photobook Grant. A new Japan-produced edition is currently being developed in collaboration with Ephemere Tokyo, with publication planned for October 2026. Cramer was also selected to participate in Chico Review in Montana, USA, in 2026.

“for there cannot be any real beauty without the indolic whiff of decay …”

~Sally Mann

CV

LISA JAYNE CRAMER

Photographic Artist – Melbourne, Australia

Born 1964, Victoria, Australia

AWARDS / GRANTS & SHORTLISTS

2026

  • Recipient, Ephemere Photobook Grant, Tokyo, Japan — FLOWER under ether

  • Women in Art Prize, Longlisted (Photography, Overseas Category), Hidden Mother I-III

  • Encontros da Imagem Photobook Award 2026 - Finalist

  • Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Photo Access, Canberra, Finalist

  • Exposure One Awards ‘One Shot Photo Contest’ - Category Conceptual, Silver Medal

2025  

  • Scholarship recipient for the 2025 Long Term Program: The Photobook hosted by Penumbra Foundation, NYC

  • B&W International Photography Awards Paris, France – Category Self Portrait, Bronze Medal

  • Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers 2025, Black and White Category, presented by Fujifilm Australia, Highly Commended

  • 26th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, FotoNostrum Barcelona Spain, Category Self Portrait Series, Honourable Mention

  • 1st Choice Awards, FotoNostrum, Barcelona Spain, Honourable Mention

  • Perth Centre for Photography COLLECTIVE 2025, Finalist

  • LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne, Finalist

2024   

  • Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize, Photo Access, Canberra, Second Prize

  • 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Barcelona Spain, Category Self Portrait Series, Honourable Mention

  • LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography Melbourne, Finalist/Staff Favourite

  • Perth Centre for Photography COLLECTIVE 2024, Finalist

2023   

  • LOOK! Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne, Finalist

COLLECTIONS

2026

  • State Library Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, - FLOWER under ether (2025)

2025

  • Penumbra Foundation Library, New York, USA - FLOWER under ether (2025)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026

  • Ephemere Foto Fest 2026, TRIPTYCHS, Three Space Tokyo, Asakusabashi 3-6-6, Taitu-ku, Tokyo, October 17 to 27

  • Revela’t Festival, 14th edition, October, Vilassar de Dalt (Barcelona)

  • Encontros da Imagem International Photography and Visual Arts Festival, Lucio Craveiro da Silva Library, Braga, Portugal, 18 September to 1 November

  • Photo Access, Canberra ACT, ‘Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize Exhibition’, 16 July to 15 August

  • Blue Sky Gallery, Centre for Photographic Arts Oregon, 50th Anniversary Online Exhibition, Show of Hands

  • BLACK & WHITE International Photography Awards Exhibition, ONE ART SPACE, 23 Warren St, New York, June 26 to 28

  • The Ephemere Photobook Exhibition, Kyoto Japan, April 18 to May 17

  • Lenscratch, The 2026 ‘Black and White Portrait’ Exhibition, March, online

  • Lenscratch, The 2026 Lenscratch ‘Love’ Exhibition, February, online

  • Lenscratch , The 2026 Lenscratch ‘New Beginnings’ Exhibition, January, online

2025

  • Gallery Joseph Froissart, Paris, France, ‘B&W International Photography Awards Exhibition’

  • Curtain Call Gallery, Shoreditch London UK, ‘Cluster London Photography Fair’

  • FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona Spain, ‘The 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition’ (pt 2)

  • Perth Centre for Photography, Fremantle WA, COLLECTIVE 2025

  • Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne VIC, ‘LOOK! Exhibition’

  • FotoNostrum Gallery, ‘1st Choice Awards Exhibition’, Barcelona Spain

2024   

  • Photo Access, Canberra ACT, ‘Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize Exhibition’

  • FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona Spain, ‘The 22nd Julia Margaret Cameron Award Exhibition’ (pt 1)

  • Perth Centre for Photography, Fremantle WA, COLLECTIVE 2024

  • Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne VIC, ‘LOOK! Exhibition’

2023   

  • CCP x Hahnemühle ‘Summer Salon Exhibition’, Melbourne VIC

  • Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne VIC, ‘LOOK! Exhibition’

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS & MENTORSHIPS

2026

  • Selected Artist, The Chico Review, Montana, USA, 2026

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND FEATURES

2026

  • FLOWER under ether was awarded the inaugural Ephemere Photobook Grant 2026 and is scheduled for publication by Ephemere Tokyo, with its launch planned during Ephemere Photo Fest 2026 at Three Space Tokyo.

  • TRIPTYCHS, Ephemere Tokyo, October - selected artist for group publication and exhibition

  • FLORA, Shutter Hub Editions, UK, Autumn 2026 — selected artist

  • WE ARE Magazine _ The Royal Photographic Society Women in Photography April 2026 edition _ Mother (moving image) feature, Mother (still image) feature.

2025

  • FLOWER under ether, produced as an artist edition of 20 copies - December 2025. This edition formed the completed photobook dummy submitted to the Ephemere Photobook Grant 2026.

  • Featured artist in Eyes on the World publication, Kamira Institute, Paris France, 2025

  • Featured artist in The FotoNostrum Magazine, FotoNostrum Barcelona, Spain 2024/2025

  • Artist Interview, 2025 CLUSTER London

EDUCATION

2025

  • Long Term Program: The Photobook, Penumbra Foundation, NYC

2024   

  • Pinhole Camera workshop, Shea Kirk, Melbourne, Australia

2023   

  • Large Format Camera workshop, Shea Kirk, Melbourne, Australia

2021   

  • Silver Gelatin Darkroom Printing, Ellie Young, Goldstreet Studios, Trentham East, Australia

2020   

  • Seeing Through Photographs, Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, NYC

2016   

  • Creative Photography Certificate, Photography Studies College, Melbourne, Australia

MEMBERSHIPS

  • Member, National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)

  • Member, The Royal Photographic Society (RPS)