There’s no distance in Anna Hay’s work. The images come from within – grounded in the communities she belongs to, and built through trust and care. Most drawn to photographing her queer community, her portraits are collaborative by nature, driven by connection and a sensitivity to how people want to be seen.

Born in Australia to a Filipino mother from Batangas who migrated in the 1980s, Anna returned to the Philippines regularly throughout her childhood. Familiar, but not fully her own, those visits carried a quiet tension – of connection without fluency, particularly when returning as an adult and navigating the country alone. That experience continues to inform her interest in stories across the Filipino diaspora.

Now based on Gadigal Country, Sydney, Anna works across portraiture, performance and art documentation. She notes that while the city can feel small – where connections overlap and communities intersect – it also allows space to build something of your own.

Alongside her practice, Anna is invested in how stories are shaped within the industry itself. Having contributed to the Creative Equity Toolkit, she advocates for more equitable approaches to storytelling – not just in who appears in the frame, but who is trusted to shape it.