Saddened were the Hearts of Many Men by Ricky Maynard

This series of 12 direct, proud portraits of men from his hometown of Flinders Island, by acclaimed documentary photographer, Ricky Maynard, was initiated quite some time ago when Maynard was asked, “Where are all our men?” He began a close observation and inquiry into how Indigenous men in the community were being affected by their diminishing role in society.

Maynard’s subjects are from a cross-section of backgrounds, from community leaders, to young men, to regular dads on the street. For each portrait, Maynard spent time with his subjects before reaching for his camera. While the individuality of each man is clear in these formal portraits, it’s their shared history that resonates. The body of work speaks to their shared history of dispossession from land and family, of denial and loss - a trauma that spans generations. We see men who have suffered hardships forced upon them simply because of the fact that they were Indigenous. In its essence, this is a body of work about historical grief.

For Maynard, documentary photography is a tool to effect social change, to bring to light stories of Indigenous people where they have previously been absent or distorted. “Picturing ourselves is a way of keeping the truth of history,” he says, “resisting the way we are defined by others and allowing us to say that our collective memory is important to us.”