Bindi Cole, Jemima 2009. Courtesy of the Artist

Bindi Cole, Frederina 2009. Courtesy of the Artist

Bindi Cole, Crystal 2009. Courtesy of the Artist

3 – 26 September 2010 

I have met some inspirational women in my life, but never before have I met women like the Sistagirls. I felt both grounded by their presence and swept away by their romanticism – Jirra Lulla Harvey 

The Sistagirls are a small community of Indigenous transgender women living on the tiny and remote Tiwi Islands in the far north of Australia. While many of the Sistagirls have dreams of running away to a far off land where their sexuality will be embraced rather than judged, they all have an unwavering loyalty to their homelands. 

Bindi Cole’s portraits of the Sistagirls and Jirra Lulla Harvey’s accompanying texts tell a moving story about the need to be loved and to belong. Sistagirls speaks to universal human values in a way that transcends cultural differences, offers us a unique insight into a world that on the surface seems so foreign, yet at its heart is so familiar.