Lauri Parr is an award-winning socially engaged visual artist and human rights researcher. She uses ethical photography, photovoice and visual storytelling – to explore, celebrate and share counter discourses – with underrepresented communities. Visual work is shared strategically with public institutions, policymakers and the public, in ways co-designed through relational practice.

Her portfolio spans 20+ collaborations in 14 countries across 5 continents. Suspicious of the assumption adults know best, her work primarily collaborates with young people and those that support them. This includes: homeless and gang-affiliated young people (2014-2019); those transitioning from prison to independence (2017-2019); young people in, and leaving care (2019-2023); sex workers, people who use drugs, LGBTQIA+ communities (2019); displaced child refugees affected by war (2020); those experiencing mental health issues in poverty (2022-2023); victims and perpetrators of sexual violence (2022); and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people (2023-current).

Lauri’s fellowship project collaborates with very remote Indigenous communities and children to explore well-being in evolving digital and visual culture. Responding to world-first Australian legislation banning -16s from social media, her research co-designs new visual distribution methods which amplify youth voice. So far, shared through on-country exhibitions; at Government House (Perth) health conferences and galleries (Australia, Canada), and at the United Nations, facilitated by the World Health Organisation (Copenhagen), the project will be embedded in the practice of the Act Belong Commit Campaign through partners across the state.