Icon

Created in response to the Inspired by Her brief. Exhibited as part of the 2026 Orana Every Woman Festival, Dubbo NSW. By Jude Morrell.

My photographic portrait of local artist Milena Sallustio represents the iconic woman.

Strong, capable, creative, loving, and when necessary, fiercely protective.

The word ‘icon’ as we know it today comes from the ancient Greek (eikón) meaning ‘image, resemblance.’ Icons today, as graphics, are simple and direct, designed to be immediately ‘read’ by the viewer. The black lines of this icon read as ‘human.’

Underneath the lines, the complexity of being uniquely individual is contained within its shape. Icons of the past would often be small paintings, mosaics or stained glass that were greatly treasured.

Jude Morrell is a photographer interested in exploring the intersection between memory, emotion and visual storytelling, with images that invite viewers to pause, reflect and connect. She is an art photographer whose practice spans many years of creative engagement with image-making as well as archives and community-based cultural work and teaching. She believes that art photography is not only a medium for expression but also a way of creating dialogue — between artist and viewer, subject and story, image and emotion.

Milena Sallustio is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersection of the subconscious and reality. Milena also contributed her own visual artwork to the exhibition — a drawing exploring Nonna, Mother, Daughter relationships and the cyclical nature of change across generations.