Biography

Matthew Thorne (b. 1993, Adelaide) is an Australian artist, filmmaker, and photographer.

His work moves between documentary and fiction, and is built around collaboration and time, working over years living and working with communities and place to tell stories that often explore spiritual life, colonial inheritance, and relationships to land.

His film Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black) (2023), co-created with Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch, received the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Teddy Award at the Berlinale (2023), the Documentary Australia Award at Sydney Film Festival (2023), and Best Short Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival (2023).

His follow-up moving image installation Extraction (2024), co-created with Kuyani/Kokatha collaborator Donna Waters, was commissioned by the Samstag Museum of Art and Creative Australia and premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival (2024).

Matthew was selected for the Directing strand of Berlinale Talents (2026). He has three feature films in development: Flatlands, a mythic coming-of-age set in the outskirts of Adelaide; One road in / One road out, a hybrid documentary following five weddings in five coal mining communities; and Ngayulu (I / Me), a direct documentary made with Derik Lynch as he narrates his story across one night.

He has also worked as unit stills photographer and additional director on Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant (2017) and Justin Kurzel's Ellis Park (2024), as unit stills photographer on Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), Danny and Michael Philippou's Talk to Me (2023), and photographer for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' album Ghosteen (2019).

Matthew has published two photo books: For my father (Palm*, 2017), made following the sudden death of his father in 2016, and Jingo was born in the slum (Jane & Jeremy, 2021). He also co-produced the album The Sand That Ate The Sea (Mercury KX / Hobbledehoy, 2019) with composer Luke Howard.

His work has been exhibited at the Hamburg Triennial of Photography (2026), Chaillot Théâtre national de la Danse, Paris (2024), Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria (2023), PHOTO Festival, Melbourne (2024), and the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020), among others.

Awards include the (Martin Kantor Portrait Prize) (2023) and Australian Directors Guild Award for Music Video (2020), and nominations for the C/O Berlin Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize (2026), the Olive Cotton Photography Award, Australia (2023), the National Portrait Prize, Australia (2021), and the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, UK (2020).

Matthew lives and works between Athens, Greece and Adelaide, Australia. He is represented by GAGProjects / Greenaway Art Gallery.

solo exhibitions ↓

  • 2026 (upcoming) Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), Triennial of Photography, Hamburg
  • 2024 Extraction, as part of the Expand commission, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide
  • 2024 Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), as part of PHOTO Festival & QueerPhoto, Melbourne
  • 2024 Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), as part of GoAustralia, Chaillot Théâtre national de la Danse
  • 2023 Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), as part of Future Tense, Living the future now, Format Festival, Derby UK
  • 2023 Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos
  • 2023 Out the back of beyond, GAGPROJECTS / Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
  • 2022 Jingo was born in the slum (with the Sidney Nolan collection), Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra
  • 2019 Gaib, Tinning Street Presents, Melbourne
  • 2019 The Sand That Ate The Sea, Sun Studios, Sydney
  • 2019 The Sand That Ate The Sea, 222 Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2017 For my father, M2 Gallery, Sydney

group exhibitions ↓

  • 2026 What are we celebrating?, Vie Projects, Paris
  • 2025 (contributed photos) Ariel Hassan: Tragedy of Equality, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje
  • 2025 Additional Assets, M2 Gallery, Sydney
  • 2023 Portrait Prize, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney
  • 2023 Martin Kantor Portrait Prize, Ballarat Photo Festival, Ballarat
  • 2023 Olive Cotton Award, Tweed Regional Gallery, New South Wales
  • 2022 Timeless, Hawke Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide
  • 2022 Australian Life, Hyde Park, Sydney
  • 2022 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
  • 2021 Living Memory: National Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
  • 2021 A New Beginning, Photographic Museum of Humanity, Binario Centrale, Bologna
  • 2021 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
  • 2020 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London
  • 2020 Love In The Time of COVID19, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
  • 2019 Queer Culture, KAKE, Berlin
  • 2019 Click, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2019 Clip, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth
  • 2018 Salon, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne

festival screenings ↓

  • Extraction

    2024 Adelaide Film Festival

  • Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)

    2024 Slamdance
  • 2023 Berlinale
  • 2023 Sydney Film Festival
  • 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival
  • 2023 Adelaide Film Festival
  • 2023 DOC NYC
  • 2023 IDFA
  • 2023 RIDM
  • 2023 AFI Fest

  • The Sand that Ate the Sea

    2019 Revelations: Perth International Film Festival
  • 2019 St Kilda Film Festival

filmography ↓

  • 2029 (in development) One road in / One road out, Hybrid docufiction / drama, 120m (est.)
  • 2028 (in development) Flatlands, Coming-of-age / drama, 120m (est.)
  • 2027 (in development) Ngayulu (I / Me), Documentary, 90m (est.)
  • 2024 Extraction, Hybrid documentary / art film, 60m
  • 2023 Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black), Hybrid short docufiction / drama, 24m
  • 2020 Gaib, Short docufiction / essay film, 37m
  • 2020 The Sand That Ate The Sea, Short drama, 30m
  • 2019 Positive Movements, Episodic documentary, 30m & 15m

credits ↓

  • 2025 Unit photographer, Our Share of Sand, Shalini Adnani (Film4 / BFI)
  • 2024 Second unit director & unit photographer, Ellis Park, Justin Kurzel (GoodThing Productions / Madman)
  • 2023 Unit photographer, Talk To Me (Causeway Films / A24)
  • 2020 Unit photographer, This is Clickbait, Mark Malloy (Quibi) (unreleased)
  • 2019 Unit photographer, True History of the Kelly Gang, Justin Kurzel (Daybreak Pictures / Porchlight Films)
  • 2017 Additional unit director & unit photographer, Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott (20th Century Fox / Scott Free)
  • 2015 Title sequence director, Gallipoli, Glendyn Ivin (Matchbox / Endemol)

Fellowships & Labs ↓

  • 2026 Berlinale Talents (Directing)
  • 2023 Accelerator Lab, Melbourne International Film Festival
  • 2022 Expand Lab, Adelaide Film Festival

Photo books ↓

Albums ↓

Press ↓