Moffatt, Tracey (1960-)

Field of activity
Actor, Artist, Director, Film maker, Producer, Scriptwriter and Photographer
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-732066

Biographies

Tracey Moffat is an internationally renowned Aboriginal photographer, documentary maker and director. Moffat's photography is reflected in her films and documentaries, which explore Aboriginal culture by confronting commonly held stereotypes. Tracey Moffatt was born in 1960 in Brisbane, where she graduated from the Queensland College of Arts. Her debut film, Nice Coloured Girls, won the Most Innovative Film award at the 1988 Festival of Australian Film and Video. At the same festival, she won the Best New Australian Video award for her 5-minute Aboriginal and Islander dance video, Watch Out. Moffatt also produced Moodeitj Yorgas, which includes interviews, dances, and storytelling by Western Australian Aboriginal women. Her film Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990) draws from the 1955 Chauvel film Jedda. Moffatt's photographic exhibitions include "Some Lads" and "Something More".

Moffat released her first documentary in 1988. A Change of Face critically examined the popular understanding and construction of Australian identity in films, television drama and advertisements.

Moffat's first documentary focused solely on Aboriginal culture is Moodeitj Yorgas (Solid Women). Released in 1989, the film focused on strong and successful Aboriginal women. The film is constructed through the use of interviews, photographs of Aboriginal people and their land, stories about how the arrival of white man changed Aboriginal life (told in two Aboriginal languages), and Aboriginal music and dance. The interviews with Sally Morgan, Lois Olney, Helen Corbett and Helen Dorondorf are symbolic of the collective voice of Aboriginal women.

Her next documentary was Nice Coloured Girls (1989). Moffat again juxtaposed photography with voiceovers to examine the historical relationship between Aboriginal women and white men. The documentary questioned the validity of conventional white history that depicts Aborigines as passive and powerless.

Also in 1989, she wrote and directed Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy. Night Cries was inspired by Charles Chauvel's Jedda (1955), and continued the story of the two main characters, thirty years after Jedda. In the film, the relationship has changed from mother and child to carer and invalid.

Moffat's first feature film Bedevil was a set of three individual ghost stories that interlock to form one cohesive movie. The film was released in 1993 and is the second feature film to be directed by an indigenous Australian.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Tracey Moffatt

Selected resources (16)

Australian Women's Register

  1. The moving images of Tracey Moffatt
    Summerhayes, Catherine
    [2007]
    Published: Charta
  2. Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia
    French, Lisa
    [2003]
    Published: Damned Publishing
  3. The Oxford Companion to Australian Film
    McFarlane, Brian, Mayer Geoff and Bertrand, Ina
    [1999]
    Published: Oxford University Press
  4. Murawina : Australian women of high achievement
    Roberta Sykes ; photography by Sandy Edwards
    [1993]
    Published: Doubleday
  5. The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture
    Horton, David
    [1994]
    Published: Aboriginal Studies Press for AIATSIS
  6. National Film and Sound Archive: A Positive Identity for Black Film Makers (1987)
    Current Affairs/Topical/Talk Programs. The issues faced by Black film makers and artists striving to present a positive image of their own cultures in a white-dominated society are discussed. Source : Sydney Film Festival forum, 1987.
    312085
  7. National Film and Sound Archive: Boomalli: Five Koori Artists (1988)
    Documentary Film. Examines the work of five Aboriginal artists - Bronwyn Bancroft, Arone Raymond Meeks, Jeffrey Samuels, Tracey Moffatt and Fiona Foley.
    578841
  8. National Film and Sound Archive: A Change of Face (1988)
    TV Documentary. A television series which critically examines the depiction of Australian identity in films, television drama and advertising. It includes clips from a variety of films and television programs and features interviews with academics, film producers, directors, scriptwriters, casting agents and actors as well as students from Marrickville High School. There are a number of sound interviews and research notes attached to this catalogue entry, along with the tapes of episodes.
    138487
  9. National Film and Sound Archive: Bedevil (1992 - 1993)
    A feature film directed by Tracey Moffatt. Dramatic trilogy comprising three self-contained ghost stories which are not related to each other but which form a cohesive whole: 1. 'Mr. Chuck' about a white woman and an Aboriginal boy as lovers -- 2. 'Choo Choo Choo Choo' about an Aboriginal family living beside a rail-line -- 3. 'Lovin' the Spin I'm In' about group optimism and pessimism. There is also associated documentation listed in the catalogue, including a media release and press kit.
    239068
  10. National Film and Sound Archive: Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1989)
    A short film directed by Tracey Moffatt. A middle aged Aboriginal woman nurses her old white mother. During her tending of the old woman we feel her frustrations of duty, her suppressed anger, her own need for warmth and love, her personal loneliness. Her memories and dreams invade her nerve fraying routine until the old woman dies and we share the daughter's immense sense of loss. Shot entirely in a studio, the power of the film lies in the artificially treated vibrantly coloured landscape and carefully constructed soundscape. The environment contributes another personality...an unbending, unchanging force. Inspired by 'Jedda', Moffatt resurrects the two primary characters and propels them 30 years into the future, transforming the relationship between child and mother into carer and invalid. There is also documentation associated with the production of the film listed in the catalogue.
    524741
  11. National Film and Sound Archive: Nice Coloured Girls (1989 - 1990)
    Experimental documentary film contrasting the relationship between Aboriginal women and white men in the past and in the 1980s. The film juxtaposes contemporary images of black women with a voice-over of extracts from early journals of white settlers and sailors, in order to question the validity of conventional white history and to deny the image of Aborigines as passive and powerless. -- General note: Additonal credits: Philippa Harvey (Film editor); Gail Mabo, Cheryl Pitt, Lindsay McCorrmack (Cast). There is also documentation associated with the production of the film listed in the catalogue.
    559182
  12. National Film and Sound Archive: Moodeitj Yorgas (Solid Women) (1989)
    Documentary Film. A documentary from 1989 about strong, successful Aboriginal women in Western Australia. Includes interviews with Sally Morgan, Lois Olney, Helen Corbett and Helen Dorondorf; stills of Aboriginal people and the land; stories in two Aboriginal languages about life after the coming of the white man. Aboriginal music and dance are presented between the interviews. -- General note: The interviews take the form of continuous portraits with voice-overs that are 'out of sync' with the image, as the director's intention was for the voices to speak for all Aboriginal women. There is also documentation associated with the production of the film listed in the catalogue.
    629203
  13. National Film and Sound Archive: Women 88 (1987)
    Documentary Film. A series of seven five minute films for television produced for the Women's Program of the Australian Bicentennial Authority. They celebrate and promote past and present Australian women's achievements and their diverse contributions to the evolution of Australian society.
    46113
  14. National Film and Sound Archive: Moffatt, Tracey: upper body shot, head turned to right, corrugated iron roof in background
    Photograph by Reese Scannell
    709770
  15. National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room: Biographical cuttings on Tracey Moffatt, film-maker, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals
    BIOG
  16. National Film and Sound Archive: Moffatt, Tracey: Interviewed by Kari Hanet (1990)
    Director, writer and photographer Tracey Moffatt talks about how and why she became a filmmaker and her views about the craft of directing. -- General note: Kari Hanet interviews a number of film directors for the IMAGEMAKERS project, the exhibition of which is on permanent display at The Chauvel Cinema.
    381086

Resources by Tracey Moffatt (13)

  1. Tracey Moffatt / editor-curator, Michael Snelling
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Book : 1992-2003 ]
    Languages: English, German
    At 63 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 35.001)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 35.001)

  2. Night cries : a rural tragedy / director/writer, Tracey Moffatt ; producer, Penny McDonald
    Ronin Films
    [ Video : 1989-1991 ]
    At 60 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.624)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.624)

  3. Nice coloured girls / produced, directed and written by Tracey Moffatt
    Australian Film Commission. Women's Film Fund
    [ Video : 1987-2007 ]
    At 53 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.616)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.616)

  4. Moodeitj yorgas : Solid women
    Western Australian Women's Advisory Council
    [ Video : 1988-1989 ]
    Languages: English, Australian languages
    At 38 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.186)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.186)

  5. beDevil / produced by Anthony Buckley and Carol Hughes; written and directed by Tracey Moffatt
    Ronin Films
    [ Video : 1993-2007 ]
    At 45 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.381)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.381)

  6. Heaven / a film by Tracey Moffatt
    Dia Center for the Arts (New York, N.Y.)
    [ Video : 1990-1998 ]
    At 21 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.311)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.311)

  7. Love / by Tracey Moffatt ; edited by Gary Hillberg
    Women Make Movies (Firm)
    [ Video : 2003 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.882)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.882)

  8. Changing images
    Moffatt, Tracey, 1960-
    [ Book : 1988 ]
    At AIATSIS Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.687)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.687)

  9. Artist / commissioned by Tracey Moffatt and edited by Gary Hillberg
    Women Make Movies (Firm)
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    Languages: English, Duala
    At 3 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.422)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.422)

  10. Lip / commissioned by Tracy Moffatt
    Women Make Movies (Firm)
    [ Video : 1999-2002 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.118)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.118)

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Resources about Tracey Moffatt (13)

  1. Tracey Moffatt / editor-curator, Michael Snelling
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Book : 1992-2003 ]
    Languages: English, German
    At 63 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 35.46)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 35.46)

  2. Art at the turn of the millennium / editors, Burkhard Riemschneider, Uta Grosenick ; authors, Lars Bang Larsen ... [et al.]
    Grosenick, Uta
    [ Book : 1999 ]
    Languages: English, French
    read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
    View online
    At 45 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.87)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 11.87)

  3. A Matter of identity
    Open Training and Education Network (N.S.W.). Media Production Unit
    [ Video : 1993-1994 ]
    At 32 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.23)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.23)

  4. Tracey Moffatt discusses her work / interviewer, Julie Rigg
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Sound : 1989 ]
    At UQ Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.983)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.983)

  5. The promise of photography : the DG Bank collection / edited by Luminita Sabau, with Iris Cramer and Petra Kirchberg ; essays by Boris Groys, Rosalind E. Krauss, and Paul Virilio ; texts by Carl Aigner ... [et al.]
    Sabau, Luminita
    [ Book : 1998 ]
    At 18 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.117)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.117)

  6. Something more : Tracey Moffatt
    [ Book : 1989 ]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.013)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.013)

  7. Epic : Tracey Moffatt, Patricia Piccinini, Scott Redford, Roger Scott, Tim Hixson, Fiona Lowry : 24 November 2006 to 13 January 2007 / curated by Jason Smith
    Smith, Jason, 1966-
    [ Book : 2006 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.915)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.915)

  8. Up in the sky
    (Up in The Sky) Jane Cole Productions
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.877)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.877)

  9. Images : hedendaagse foto's door Aboriginal kunstenaars
    Ham, Annette van
    [ Book : 2004 ]
    Languages: Dutch
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.768)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.768)

  10. Desde el fin del imperio nueve fotografos Australianos = From the empire's end nine Australian photographers : On the shadow line ten Spanish photographers = En la línea de sombra diez fotógrafos Españoles
    Maloon, Terence
    [ Book : 1991 ]
    Languages: English, Spanish
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.654)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.654)

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  1. Moffatt, Tracey
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.226)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.226)

  2. Moffatt, Tracey (1960-)
    ... culture by confronting commonly held stereotypes. Tracey Moffatt was born in 1960 in Brisbane, where she ...
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.084)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.084)

  3. Mabo, Gail (1965-)
    ... Tracey Moffatt. Gail Mabo, dancer, actor and visual artist was born in Queensland in July 1965. Mabo ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  1. Website: Art Gallery of Western Australia
    www.artgallery.wa.gov.au
    Matching pages:
    • Tracey Moffatt.qxd - 19/7/2006
    • ...Girls on Film Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt Born in 1960, the artist grew up in suburban Brisbane...
    View 7 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.048)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.048)

  2. Website: Public opinion
    www.sauer-thompson.com
    Matching pages:
    View 20 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.025)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.025)

  3. Website: The art life
    artlife.blogspot.com
    Matching pages:
    View 259 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.022)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.022)

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  1. Changing images: an interview with Tracey Moffatt. -conducted 3 Aug 1988-
    Moffatt, Tracey; Rutherford, Anna
    Aboriginal Culture Today
    [ Article : 1988 ]
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.515)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.515)

  2. Tracey Moffatt
    Greenstein, M. A
    Art and Asia Pacific
    [ Article : 2001 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.43)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.43)

  3. Tracey Moffatt
    Skilbeck, Ruth
    Pol Oxygen
    [ Article : 2004 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.416)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.416)

  4. Woman with attitude: Tracey Moffatt
    Portch, Scott
    Refractory Girl
    [ Article : 1994 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.341)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.341)

  1. Tracey Moffatt : fever pitch / text by Gael Newton and Tracey Moffatt
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Book : 1995 ]
    At 69 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.505)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.505)

  2. Tracey Moffatt : between dreams and reality / edited by Filippo Maggia
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Book : 2006 ]
    At 54 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.833)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.833)

  3. Tracey Moffatt : laudanum
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Book : 1999 ]
    Languages: German, English
    At 27 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.706)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.706)

  4. The moving images of Tracey Moffatt / Catherine Summerhayes
    Summerhayes, Catherine
    [ Book : 2007 ]
    At 24 libraries
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.544)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.544)

  1. Up in the sky : Tracey Moffatt in New York : a film / by Jane Cole
    Cole, Jane
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    At 38 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.853)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 1.853)

  2. Nice coloured girls : a film / by Tracey Moffatt
    Ronin Films
    [ Video : 1987-2005 ]
    At 8 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.445)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.445)

  3. Up in the sky : Tracey Moffat in New York
    ABC-TV (Australia)
    [ Video : 1999 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.426)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.426)

  4. Boomalli : five Koorie artists / producer, Paul Humfress ; director, Michael Riley ; produced by Film Australia
    Film Australia
    [ Video : 1900-2010 ]
    At 44 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.421)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.421)

  1. Tracey Moffatt, 1995 / Greg Weight
    Weight, Greg, 1...
    [ Photograph : 1995 ]
  2. Exposed fictions [Tracey Moffatt, R...
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Photograph : 1992 ]
  3. [Photographers Australia] Tracey Mo...
    Moffatt, Tracey
    [ Poster, chart, other : 1980-1989 ]
  4. Poster, 'Maningrida', paper, produc...
    [ Poster, chart, other : 1980 ]
  5. Parking Cars 1981
    MOFFATT, Tracey
    [ Art work : 2008 ]
  6. Hair Washer 1976
    MOFFATT, Tracey
    [ Art work : 2008 ]
  1. [Biographical cuttings on Tracey Moffatt, film-maker, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.512)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.512)

  2. [Tracey Moffatt : Australian Art and Artists file]
    [ Published ]
    At State Library of VIC
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.398)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.398)

  3. Papers of William Morris Hughes
    Hughes, W. M. (William Morris), 1862-1952
    [ Unpublished : 1865-1958 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

  1. LAUNCESTON. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Tuesday. ARRIVED.
    The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Wednesday 19 January 1887 p 2 Article
    ... Chapman, Redpath ; Misses Wade, Harrison, Best, Moffatt, Woodgate, Halli- gan, Fitzpatrick (2), ... McWhinney, Landale.Tliel wall, Stoyles, Greene, Tracey, Sherwin, Richardson, Royle, Scale, Blundell, ... 103 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

  2. LEADING RIDERS
    Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Wednesday 24 January 1951 p 8 Article
    ... 15/ 11 C. Moffatt .. 77 11 7 11 C. Hughes ., 60 10 9 8 VISITING BOOKMAKERS 'THE following visiting ... and Perkins, C. V. Lord, A. R. Moore and R. G. Tracey. ... 104 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

  3. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] MOUNT NELSON. INWARD.
    The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Thursday 22 December 1881 p 2 Article
    ... Mrs. Screw, Mr. and Mrs. Snuthendcn, Mr. and Mrs. Moffatt, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson. Mr. and Mrs. ... J, Poterson, Jones, Nelson, McFhail, Eastwood. MiBses Ellis, Tracey, Muller Balley, Morrison, ... Cooper, Brrcklebank, Naugh, Bromby, Patrick, Watson, A, Beckett, C. Watson, Moffatt, Masfie, E. ... 282 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.01)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.01)