Cybele's Photo Gallery
Cybele Malinowski
Inside the Mind.
Below the Surface.
[or Under the Surface.]
…with the volume at 11
CCP asks Cybele Malinowski the questions about her craft
1. What gets you out of bed every day?
Either a burning sense of exhilaration or a yearning sense of listlessness
2. Who is the photographer that has inspired you the most?
I’ll speak more of who influenced me, as those formative years are so crucial, There are two, and they are both so different at a glance, but both explore ultimately what it is to be human. Dorothea Lang and David LaChapelle. The agony and the ecstasy of life.
3. Have you changed the equipment you use?
Canon r5ii and Hasselblad XPan
4. What is the music you are playing these days?
Music is the soul of my shoot. It can elevate a room, or chill it right down. I am tweaking the algorithm throughout the day. When people come to my shoots, I want them to have fun, to enjoy the process, to think a little deeper, and ultimately to walk out with their feathers fluffed. To do this, its a combo of music, good crew, and to keep the energy moving throughout the day.
5. In the digital world how important is the print?
I am appreciating it more and more. As there are less and less editorial prints. The print form as an artwork is even more tantalising and romantic than it ever was.
6. B/W - Colour - Analogue - Digital.
Put these words in your order of preference and tell us why.
Colour - digital - analogue - b/w.
Thats tough. Colour is the poetry with which I speak. Digital is the universe I explore within. Analogue is the history with which I learnt. And black and white is the subconscious of the art form.
7. Have you exhibited your work, and other than the print, how important was the framing process to you?
Framing is like lipstick. It’s the finishing touch. It sets the tone, and establishes the story.
8. What defines a great image?
That intangible element that at once makes sense, but also makes you question it. A work that for some is just a pretty image, or a fun scene, but for those who want to dig deeper, there are many many layers to be revealed over time and contemplation.
9. Have you got a new favourite photo? Why?
What comes to mind is a photograph DEEPFAKE, Cher, On All Fours, from a series shot across Los Angeles and Las Vegas capturing celebrity impersonator. Extraordinary people engaged in the quiet, mundane rituals of everyday life. From Marilyn filling her gas tank to Prince running errands, the project explores the tension between performance and reality. Collaborating with performers who embody these cultural icons before unmasking at sunset was a profound joy. The work interrogates identity, fame, and our impulse to be both seen and unseen. Here, Cher crawls across a suburban lawn, an image directly inspired by Miranda July’s novel All Fours.
10. What is the best photography advice you have been given? Tell us by who if you can or want to?
My brother, who trained me when I started said Cybele, if it’s not worthy of going on a gallery wall, don’t shoot it. These words pop into my head randomly to this day. What I take from this, is no matter what you are shooting, what the budget, subject is, make this your best. Push yourself to find the extraordinary in any setup.
11. When you are not taking photos, what are you doing?
I am with my family. My three beautiful girls and my photographer husband Daniel.
High Point in career?
A major career milestone was conceiving, directing, and producing Agender’s Lipstick Effect at the Sydney Opera House. As co-founder of Agender, a platform amplifying women and non-binary creatives, I brought the project to Australia’s most iconic stage by bringing together some of the country's foremost female photographers beneath the sails. By weaving their visual work with the words of writers and thinkers from the All About Women festival, the production explored beauty, identity, and resilience through an immersive multimedia lens, marking a pinnacle in both artistic scale and cultural advocacy.
Low Point in career?
Covid was hard. But I worked through it, and found a way to shoot and connect with people. I shot a series called ISO, where I photographed friends and family in their ISOlation. It kept me connected to the outside world, and kept me shooting.
Cybele Malinowski - October 2026
Cybele Malinowski CV
Cybele Malinowski is a leading Australian photographer and director, her work bridging
advertising, fashion and art. Her singular curiosities have taken her across the world;
from documenting the haunting ruins and wild nature of Chernobyl, to witnessing the
aftermath of Australia’s catastrophic bushfires. She has been repeatedly drawn to the
vast desert landscapes of the American Southwest, and the dramatic, frozen norths of
Iceland. She is unafraid to playfully interrogate the sometimes agonising, but often
ecstatic, emotional territories in her subjects in capturing our ephemeral lives.
Trained in architecture at Sydney University, Cybele’s curatorial eye brings a
multidisciplinary view to all of her work, from stills to short documentary, music videos
and creative direction. Cybele has captured the beautiful and the famous for everyone
from Harper’s Bazaar, and Russh, to Rolling Stone, Wallpaper, i-D, and dozens
between. In advertising, she has produced campaigns for clients including Dermalogica,
Dove, Mercedes Benz USA, the Sydney Opera House, eBay, MTV and Greenpeace,
and was named 2022 Australian Women in Music Awards photographer of the year.
She is the co-founder of Agender; a platform advocating for women’s equality in the
photo industry.
In her portraiture, Cybele works adeptly at creating space for her subjects to
comfortably express their true complexities of self. It is this work that she enjoys most,
whether professionally, or in the intimacy of keeping a visual record of her family; she
and her husband and their three young daughters, in Sydney.
She is the co-founder of Agender, a platform dedicated to championing women photographers and fostering gender equity in the industry. Through Agender, Cybele has helped create mentorship opportunities, curated exhibitions, and developed professional initiatives that amplify female voices across editorial, commercial, and fine-art photography. The collective provides visibility, community, and support for emerging and established women photographers alike, strengthening networks and opening pathways that have historically been limited in the industry.
EDUCATION
MASTERS OF ART Photography and Film SCA 2014
BACHELOR ARCHITECTURE IN DESIGN / USYD 2005
EXHIBITIONS + AWARDS
FEMALE IN FOCUS X NIKON Winner, 2025
AGENDER x SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE The Lipstick Effect, 2025
PERSONAL ONE Lunar Studios group show 2025
HEAD ON Semi-Finalist 2025
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON AWARD Winner of Series , Finalist of Single Image,
2024
1854 PORTRAIT OF HUMANITY British Journal of Photography, Finalist 2024
ENTROPICO, Come Together Group Show 2024
MELBOURNE FASHION FILM FESTIVAL finalist 2024
AWMA Female Photographer of the Year - Winner 2022HEAD ON finalist, Sydney 2022, 2012, 2011
TIPP Group Show, Sun Studios 2018, 2019
AGENDER Group Show, Sun Studios 2019
AGENDER Group Show, Hilton Sydney 2018
WATCHING YOU WATCHING YOU SCA grad show 2014
MELTdown Sca solo show 2013
DOUBLE GLAZED First Draft 2012
VACANCY Solo Show Gaffa Gallery, Sydney 2011
SOYA AWARDS finalist 2010, 2009
LOUDlight Solo Show MTV Gallery, Sydney 2008
COVERS, Group Show, Mart Gallery 2010
Moran Portrait Prize, Finalist 2010
CAREER
Practising Photographer 2005-present
FOUNDER and partner of AGENDER 2016-present
A platform empowering female and non-binary Australian photographers.
Holding events, exhibitions, panels, workshops, forming partnerships with
brands to create all female campaigns from creative and deisgn to print
and production.
REPRESENTED by Entropico for Directing and Photography 2023 to present
REPRESENTED by Infinity Squared for Directing 2020-2023
REPRESENTED by Network Agency for photography 2009-2022
CONTACT
Clovelly, Sydney Australia