Lauren Starr is a photo-media artist and writer who spends her days weaving stories from light, myth, and memory. Based in Bendigo, Victoria, she works between photography, paint, and words to bring forgotten women and half-remembered dreams into focus. Her art leans toward the otherworldly — lush, painterly images where history and imagination blur, and something ancient seems to stir just beneath the surface.
When she isn’t conjuring new worlds, Lauren can usually be found in her garden or walking her curly-coated dog, Hank, with her husband, two children, and a pair of mischievous bunnies never far away.
In 2022, she won the Bluethumb Art Prize, receiving both the Photography and Grand Prize, and her work now lives in Parliament House, Melbourne, and Bendigo Art Gallery. She believes in the quiet power of stories — how they find us, and how, if we listen, they lead us home.
Selected Achievements:
2025
Finalist - Head On International Exposure Awards
Finalist - Olive Cotton Photography Prize
Acquisition, Treasury Place Melbourne
2024
Acquisition, Parliament House Melbourne
Finalist, Nyland Photography Prize
2023
Acquisition, Bendigo Art Gallery
Finalist, Beautiful Bizarre photography category
Solo exhibition, Luminaries
Ted x Speaker
2022
Winner, Bluethumb Grand Art Prize
Winner, Bluethumb Photography Category
Winner, Queenscliff Art Prize
Finalist, Maldon Portrait Prize
Solo Exhibition, Golfields Gothic
Group Exhibition, Bluethumb Gallery
Group Exhibition, Sydney Bluethumb Gallery
2021
Winner, Bluethumb Art Prize Photography Category
Solo exhibition, Memento Mori
Group exhibition, Space