Portraits of a nation
A photographic portfolio of PNG
From models and movie stars, to matadors and motorbike outlaws, Sandro Miller has shot them all. “But I was completely blown away by the people in PNG,” says the award-winning photographer, writer and film maker. Sandro, as he’s known, has visited the country three times to capture images of people from more than 450 communities, such as the Asaro, Omo Masalai, Sili Muli and Huli.
Back home in Chicago, he describes the daunting project as “the most expansive collection of photographs of the tribes of Papua New Guinea ever recorded”.
Acknowledging the claim, Washington’s Smithsonian Institute last year published a selection of the striking portraits.
The 60-year-old photographer is known for his intimate images of different cultures, including indigenous groups, American bikers and even the arcane world of Joselito, one of Spain’s most controversial (and battered) bullfighters.
“I’ve been influenced by the great classic photographer Irving Penn,” says Sandro. “As a teenager I saw his celebrated portraits of the Asaro Mud Men, taken in 1970. His impact was so powerful it changed my whole life and worldview of photography.”
But it was veteran Australian photographer, Torsten Blackwood, who
persuaded Sandro to take on the PNG project, starting with the gathering of clans at the Goroka Show. “Arriving in Goroka was a real eye-opener with all the costumes, sing
sings displays and constant movement of people,” he says. “I set up a makeshift studio in a vacant schoolroom and started shooting portraits.”
Fascinated by the country, Sandro returned a year later (in 2016), this time to the upper Sepik region. It was a full-on expedition.
“We took a bouncy van from Wewak to Pagui village, with nearly 900 kilograms of water, food supplies, luggage, a pop-up studio and photographic equipment,” he says.
“We loaded it all into a 15-metre dugout canoe that that took us to Ambunti, where I recommenced my portrait sessions.”
With its lush rainforests and abundance of wildlife, Sandro describes his Sepik trip as magical.
“It’s the best area to see the bird of paradise and I felt as if I were in a living National Geographic documentary.”
“One of my most memorable experiences was attending an initiation ritual that honors the spirit of the crocodile.
“It was incredibly intense watching young men go through a painful skin cutting process that leaves them with marks similar to the scales of the revered animal.”
Sandro’s portrait of Quentin Daki, on Page 94, symbolises the crocodile’s significance to the Sepik people.
“I remember how she walked gently over to my set and posed calmly with the crocodile draped around her neck. Luckily its mouth was bound so I didn’t really have to fear it was going to bite me.”
Sandro credits much of the success of his Sepik trip to Mathew Kaka, a local leader who runs a guesthouse in Wagu village.
“Mathew was an amazing, kind and very caring guide,” says Sandro. “When approaching a village, it was sometimes scary to be met by a bunch of men armed with machetes, spears and bows. We’d always send in our guides ahead, for discussions with village leaders.
“Everything usually turned out okay, although we had a brief scrap in one village when one man tried to take my cameras. However, the others broke it up quickly and returned my equipment.”
As a self-described ‘city boy’, Sandro says his main fear was not people, but walking in the jungle.
“The country has over 80 species of snakes, many of them deadly. The worst is the Papuan black snake, which is responsible for hundreds of deaths annually. I also encountered spiders as big as my fist.
“On one trek, I remember saying to myself: ‘What the hell is this? What was I thinking’?”
Whatever his attitude to wildlife, the thinking behind his portrait photography is to “express silence, quietude, slowness, reflection, mysticism, contemplation and secrets,” he says.
“I try to get into the heart and soul of whatever subject I am shooting. To do that I have to win their confidence.
“I’m a touchy, hands-on person. I’m a hugger and express my love. I will smile, laugh, and jump up and down. Because of that people trust me and trust what I’m going to take from them to show the world.”
Nevertheless, Sandro is aware this approach can be risky.
I’m a touchy, hands-on person. I’m a hugger and express my love. I will smile, laugh, and jump up and down.
“You have to find very specific words to work with a group or a culture. When you walk into the base of outlaw bikers you have to act easy,” he says.
“You say to them: ‘you’re very genuine, or interesting’. I’d never use the word ‘different’. Instead, I tell them: ‘I’m working on a book and would love to photograph you to show the world a different side of who bikers are’.”
In PNG, the same method was used when Sandro visited a camp of raskols.
“I was also extremely respectful and careful,” he says. “It was heavy duty, but I was able to photograph portraits for three hours before it became uncomfortable and time to leave.”
Despite the artifice of a staged studio setup, Sandro believes that his Rembrandt-style portraits are the best way to get an important message across.
“Most images of people in PNG show them in a natural setting doing daily tasks. I think that’s been overdone. I don’t feel there’s a connection with the subject when a photo is taken from afar with a telephoto lens.”
Sandro is assembling his portraits in a book that he hopes will preserve PNG’s traditional culture.
“For me this is a study of something that I fear is going away quickly with western influence. I want people to know and appreciate this beautiful country more.”