In ‘Admire,’ Raphaela Rosella’s black and white portraits hang besides quotes like:

“I may be small but my hero is batman. The theme of the exhibition was looking at heros, hopes and dreams,” Ms Rosella said.

“We asked the kids a series of questions like, ‘If you had one wish what would it be?’ and we used some of their responses in the exhibition.

“The ones that resonated with me were the ones you just 

wouldn’t think children would say, as well as the honesty and the imagination in quotes like ‘I wish I could catch a rainbow’ and ‘I wish I was confident so I could be brave.’” 

The exhibition was sponsored by Beyond Empathy which uses art to enrich peoples lives in communities often face hardship, and Ms Rosella said she approach her subjects with “a clean slate”.

“We didn’t look at personal stories, I didn’t want any off that coming through or to influence the story,” she said. “There was nothing about focusing on outside challenges. The aim was to include all the children in Moree East Primary School so we tried to photograph all of them – and each student was equal.”

Also on the walls are drawings by the children, who worked with Aunty Paula Duncan and teacher Mr Chris Roberts.

The exhibition was a part of the Festival of the Brolga and came out of Moree East’s Connected Commun-ities’ programme. 

“They live in the community and it’s about them working with the children helping them to achieve what they want to. We all don’t learn the same way and the arts is a good way to engage students and particularly indigenous students.” Mrs Rosella said.

‘Admire’ is open until December 19.