“It’s like a ticket to places and spaces that you might normally not get invited into,” Nicola Dracoulis on photography.

Nicola Dracoulis can’t remember the very first photo she took. She does, however, remember the first time her interest in photography was sparked. As part of her high school studies, the students were asked to make a pinhole camera (a light-proof box with a small hole on one side). She was given the chance to go outside and explore and capture an image on exposed paper. It was the first time she scrutinised the world around her through a third eye, that of her camera.
“It’s like a ticket to places and spaces that you might normally not get invited into,” Nicola tells Neos Kosmos about her love of taking pictures.
“It’s glimpsing into other people’s world and learning about the world around you, and that’s what I love about photography – it creates an exchange between people and opens up new worlds.”
Nicola’s venture into photography and film making was organic as after high school she went to RMIT and began her Bachelor of Photography. But at the tender age of 17, her enquiring mind had taken over and Melbourne wasn’t a big enough playground for this voyeur. She wanted to see the world; capture the world; she wanted to delve into other people’s lives and tell their story.
Nicola left Australia for Europe with the intention of travelling and living in Spain. Instead, she stayed in the UK for 12 years because “she kept finding reasons” to stay there. When she received her permanent status in the UK, she knew there and then that it was time to take her photographic work to the next level by doing a Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.
“I chose [the course] because I didn’t want to do commercial or fashion – I like photographs of real people, and their real stories,” she explains.
London provided Nicola with constant inspiration. The changing landscape of the city gave Nicola the chance to come into being as a professional photographer, and, more importantly, develop her personal style.
“I got really involved in music, street photography, club photography and music portraits,” she says of the photographic work she was undertaking in England’s capital.
“That was how my own personal photography came together,” she says.
One of the photographer’s favourite images came from her time in the UK and combines her new style of portrait photography as well as her documentation of the music scene she was involved with. The image was taken in London club Blacktronica. The image captures a group of DJs at the club having what she describes as an “almost spiritual moment” with the music they are playing.
“It’s as though they are channelling the music; they all have their eyes closed and are singing along,” she says.
But the one image that stands out for her the most is one that was captured as part of her ongoing project Living in the Middle of the Noise.
“It’s of Bebel on his bike, in Vigario Geral, Rio de Janerio,” she starts. “It was quite spontaneous taking that image and I feel it’s quite an iconic image [for the project], and he was a really special person as well.”
Living in the Middle of Noise is the project Nicole started in 2006 when she looking for something for her Masters project. She needed to find a story and she wanted something that was “positive, with people creating and being creative; creating something out of nothing, out of adversity”.
“A lot of documentary and photojournalism focuses on extreme suffering and I didn’t want do a suffering project, I wanted to do one that had a certain pride and celebration.”
When Nicola found out there were people living in favelas (shantytowns) across Rio and about their involvement with NGO AfroReggae – an organisation that uses culture as a tool for social change – she knew that was the project she wanted to do.
“Their story is really inspiring but I didn’t want it to be about their work specifically, I wanted to meet the young people they were working with and talk about their personal lives and see what their environment and what their life is like and tell their story.”
And now, the experienced documentary and portrait photographer is able to continue where she left off in 2006, by completing and complementing this project. Nicola is among six people who have been selected – out of 450 applications – for an artist residency at Barracão Maravilha, a contemporary arts space in Rio de Janeiro, from mid-October to mid-Nov 2013.
After eight years she now plans to reconnect with and photograph these people. Whilst all eyes are on Brazil with the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, she plans to capture the rumblings of social and economic discontent in Brazilian society. Since 2006, the country has undergone a number of changes and Nicola will be meeting with a new version of Rio and asking these young adults to share their personal experiences at another significant moment in their lives. Building upon their established relationship, Nicola will invite the subjects to work with her on their portrait, photographing them in their homes and neighbourhoods.
“It’s really interesting not only how the lives of these people have changed, just by virtue of growing up, but it’s interesting in Rio because the situation for residents in favelas and for the city of Rio has changed a lot with the upcoming World Cup and the Olympics.
“The government is recognising these neighbourhoods – which they didn’t before – and have been trying to ‘clean them up’. And their approach to ‘cleaning them up’ is somewhat controversial.”
This project is important because it will provide a unique in-depth insight into people’s lives. Photography plays an important role in educating people about our world and Nicola believes in using photography to promote global awareness.
The aim of this project – that has been close to Nicola’s heart for over eight years – is to come back to Australia and exhibit and open a window for Australian audiences to see into the lives of young adults in Brazil.
To help Nicola reach her goal you can assist by donating to her campaign in the Australian Cultural Fund at www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au/artist-projects/nicola-dracoulis. For more information on Nicola’s photographic work and upcoming projects, visit www.nicoladracoulis.com/