Matthew Thorne (b. 1993, Adelaide) is an Australian artist and photographer whose work spans fine-art photography and on-set stills. His practice explores land, memory and spirituality through long-term collaborations, moving between documentary and staged re-imaginings.
His film and photographic work Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) (2023) made with Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at Berlinale, the Documentary Australia Award at Sydney Film Festival, Best Short Documentary at MIFF, and received an IDA Awards nomination. His 60-minute moving image installation Extraction(2024), made with Kuyani/Kokatha woman Donna Waters, was commissioned by the Samstag Museum of Art and premiered at Adelaide Film Festival.
His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), Canberra Museum and Gallery alongside Sidney Nolan’s Kelly series (2022), PHOTO Festival Melbourne (2024), and Chaillot National Theatre Paris (2023). He has also been selected for the upcoming Hamburg Triennial of Photography (2026).
Matthew has also contributed photography and additional direction to Justin Kurzel’s Ellis Park (2024) and Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant (2017), photography to Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ album Ghosteen (2019), and created the title sequence for Glendyn Ivin’s Gallipoli (2015).
Matthew currently lives and works between Athens, Greece, and Adelaide, Australia. He is represented by GAGProjects / Greenaway Art Gallery.
His film and photographic work Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) (2023) made with Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at Berlinale, the Documentary Australia Award at Sydney Film Festival, Best Short Documentary at MIFF, and received an IDA Awards nomination. His 60-minute moving image installation Extraction(2024), made with Kuyani/Kokatha woman Donna Waters, was commissioned by the Samstag Museum of Art and premiered at Adelaide Film Festival.
His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), Canberra Museum and Gallery alongside Sidney Nolan’s Kelly series (2022), PHOTO Festival Melbourne (2024), and Chaillot National Theatre Paris (2023). He has also been selected for the upcoming Hamburg Triennial of Photography (2026).
Matthew has also contributed photography and additional direction to Justin Kurzel’s Ellis Park (2024) and Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant (2017), photography to Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2019) and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ album Ghosteen (2019), and created the title sequence for Glendyn Ivin’s Gallipoli (2015).
Matthew currently lives and works between Athens, Greece, and Adelaide, Australia. He is represented by GAGProjects / Greenaway Art Gallery.
Feature film (in development)
Role. Producer, Director, Writer
Prod. Other Pictures
Development supported by the South Australian Film Corporation
2027
One road in / one road out
Feature film (in development)
Role. Producer, Director, Writer
Prod. Other Pictures
2027
KOLLAM
Feature film
Role. Unit photographer
Dir: Shalini Adnani
Prod. Film4
2025
EXTRACTION
Hybrid art film / documentary
Role. Producer, Director, Cinematographer
Prod. Other Pictures
Funded by the Samstag Gallery of Art, Adelaide Film Festival & Creative Australia.
2025
Ellis Park
Feature documentary
Role. Second unit director & Unit photographer
Dir. Justin Kurzel
Prod. GoodThing Productions
2024
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)
Short film
Role. Producer, Director, Writer
Prod. Other Pictures
Funded by South Australian Film Corporation & Adelaide Film Festival
2023
Talk to Me
Feature film
Role. Unit photographer
Dir. RackaRacka (Daniel and Michael Philippou) Prod. Causeway Films / A24
2023
Clickbait
Online Series
Role. Unit photographer
Dir. Mark Malloy
Prod. Quibi
2021
True History Of The Kelly Gang
Feature film
Role. Unit photographer
Dir. Justin Kurzel
Prod. Daybreak Pictures / Porchlight
2019
GAIB
Hybrid art film / documentary
Role. Producer, Director, Writer
Prod. Other Pictures
2019
The Sand That Ate The Sea
Short film
Role: Producer/Director/Writer
2019
Alien: Covenant
Feature film
Role. Additional unit director & Unit photography
Dir. Ridley Scott
Prod. Scott Free / Fox Film
2016
Gallipoli
TV Series
Role: Title sequence director
Dir. Glendyn Ivin
Prod. Matchbox / Endemol
2015
Snowtown
Feature film
Role. Directors Attachment / Assistant
Dir. Justin Kurzel
Prod. Warp Films Australia
2012
Hamburg, Germany
2026
(upcoming) Out the back of beyond / the Australians / Home-grown unknowns
Australian Embassy
Berlin, Germany
2026
EXTRACTION
as part of the Expand commission
Samstag Museum of Art
Adelaide, Australia
2024
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)
as part of PHOTO Festival & QueerPhoto
Melbourne, Australia
2024
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)
as part of GoAustralia
Challiot Theatre national de la dance
Paris, France
2024
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)
as part of Future Tense: Living the future now
Format Festival
Derby, United Kingdom
2024
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)
LagosPhoto Festival
Lagos, Nigeria
2023
Out the back of beyond
GAGPROJECTS / Greenaway Art Gallery
Adelaide, Australia
2023
Jingo was born in the slum
(with the Sidney Nolan collection)
Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG)
Canberra, Australia
2023
The sand that ate the sea
Sun Studios
Sydney, Australia
2019
GAIB
Tinning Street Presents
Melbourne, Australia
2019
The sand that ate the sea
222 Gallery
Melbourne, Australia
2019
For My Father
M2 Gallery
Sydney, Australia
2018
Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje
Skopje, Macedonia
2025
Additional Assets
M2 Gallery
Sydney, Australia
2025
Martin Kantor Portrait Prize
Ballarat Photo Festival
Ballarat, Australia
2023
Portrait Prize
Head On Photo Festival
Sydney, Australia
2023
Olive Cotton Award
Tweed Regional Gallery
New South Wales, Australia
2023
Timeless
Hawke Centre, University of South Australia
Adelaide, South Australia
2022
Salon
Centre for Contemporary Photography
Melbourne, Australia
2022
Living Memory: National Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery
Canberra, Australia
2021
A New Beginning
Photographic Museum of Humanity (PhMuseum) / Binario Centrale
Bologna, Italy
2021
Salon
Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne
2021
2020 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery
London, United Kingdom
2020
Love In The Time of COVID19
Art Gallery of South Australia
Adelaide, Australia
2020
Click
Brunswick Street Gallery
Melbourne, Australia
2019
Clip
Perth Centre for Photography
Perth, Australia
2019
Salon
Centre for Contemporary Photography
Melbourne, Australia
2018
(selection) Berlinale Talents
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany
2026
Best Short Documentary
Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), Australia
2024
Martin Kantor Portrait Prize
Ballarat Photo Festival, Australia
2023
Silver Berlin Bear (Short Film) & Teddy Award (Short Film)
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany
2023
Documentary Australia Award
Sydney Film Festival, Australia
2023
Best Short Documentary
Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia
2023
Best Documentary
Montenegro Film Festival, Montenegro
2023
Best International Short Documentary
Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland
2023
Best Director & 2nd Prize International Short Film
International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, Cyprus
2023
(nominee) Best Short Documentary
International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards, USA
2023
(nominee) Best International Short Film
Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal (RIDM), Canada
2023
(nominee) Olive Cotton Award
Tweed Regional Gallery, Australia
2023
(nominee) Australian Life Photo Prize
City of Sydney, Australia
2023
(recipient) Expand commission
Adelaide Film Festival & Samstag Gallery of Art, Australia
2022
(nominee) National Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery, Australia
2021
(nominee) Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery, United Kingdom
2020
Best Direction in a Music Video
Australian Directors Guild Awards (ADG Awards), Australia
2020
Chhorn, Allison, Expand Moving Image Lab: Susan Norrie, Matthew Thorne and Emmaline Zanelli, Artlink, November 6, 2024
Blizek, William L. & Blizek, Monica, Marungka Tjlatjunu (Dipped in Black), Journal of Religion & Film, January 28, 2024
Andrew F. Peirce, Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black): Derik Lynch, Matthew Thorne, and Patrick Graham Talk About Tina Turner and Trust, The Curb, December 28, 2023
Guillet, Lucie, Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black): in search of peace, fisheye, Number #72, September 4, 2023
Pook, Daniel, Matthew Thorne & Derik Lynch – Ngapartji Ngapartji, Short Talks Blog, May 2023
Kale, Neha, Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch, The Saturday Paper, No. 443, April 1-7, 2023
Pook, Daniel Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch on “Marungka tjalatjunu” / interview, Berlinale Shorts Blog, February 22, 2023
Australian Life photography competition 2022 finalists – in pictures, The Guardian, August 23, 2022
De Stefani, Lucia, The Mystique Surrounding South Australia’s Land of Opals, PhMuseum, March 3, 2021
Stone, Mee-Lai, Portraits from the pandemic: Taylor Wessing prize winners – in pictures, The Guardian, November 24, 2020
Tomlinson, Jonathan, The Sand That Ate The Sea – Matthew Thorne, Then There Was Us, 28 June, 2020
Memories of an Absent Father Emerge in Matthew Thorne’s Stormy Outback Drama ‘The Sand That Ate The Sea’, Directors Notes, April 29, 2020
Moss, Jack, A First Look at The Vampire’s Wife’s Mystical New Campaign, AnOther, August 6, 2019
Tsatsas, Lou, Famille, isolation et magie australienne, fisheye magazine, September 25, 2018
Harries, Jack, The Sand That Ate The Sea, Q&A Matthew Thorne, The Heavy Collective, July 18, 2018
Last Updated 24.10.31