I mentioned in a post back in April – “Disko Meri Does It Again” – that I had been so far unable to let my Papua New Guinea bar girl subject Julie know about the success of her portrait in various photography events and awards around the planet over the last couple of years … Sydney (Head On Portrait Prize) and Cairns (QMMA Awards) Australia, New York City (Photoville 2015), Moscow (MIFA), Hyderabad India (Head On) and the ‘International Color Awards’ to name but a few.
I made the image at the Diamond Club in a not too salubrious part of Port Moresby. The club does not have a telephone or internet presence and it was impossible to contact her.
So … during a nights stopover in Port Moresby on my way to Manus Island a few weeks ago I dropped into the Diamond Club armed with a print and accompanied by PNG friends Margo and Raymond. At first it seemed that Julie would never know as we were told she no longer works at Diamonds. Fortunately someone found her brother in law who was in the club that eve and he offered to jump in a taxi (at our expense) and go and pick her up.
About an hour later a very bemused and rattled Julie arrived and was presented with a large print and told of her World wide fame. Julie explained that she was no longer working and was now a (single) mother of twins!
In the two years since I made the image Julie had changed from a confident up front bar girl into a quieter softer more lissome young mother of two baby boys. She said she was going to give the print to her mum …
Below is a pic © Raymond Nugent (Thanks Raymond) … of Julie in the Diamond Club with her print.