Leila Jeffreys is a renowned contemporary artist working across photography, moving image and installation.
By Neha Kale
She is best known for images of birds, photographed at human scale, that explore and subvert the conventions of portraiture. Jeffreys, who lives and works in Sydney with her husband and son, sees her avian subjects as living beings, part of a practice that expands viewer’s hearts by drawing attention to interdependence between species. Jeffreys’ work is a result of years-long periods of research and exploration. In the tradition of artist-activists, she conducts fieldwork, collaborates with conservationists, ornithologists and sanctuaries and champions programs to protect and restore endangered habitats.
Jeffreys has exhibited in Australia and around the world for fifteen years, everywhere from Sydney and Melbourne to Paris, Brussels and Los Angeles. In 2023, her work was curated into The Best in Show at Fotografiska in New York, as part of an exhibition dedicated to animals in contemporary photography that toured Tallinn and Stockholm. She featured alongside the world’s most respected photographers as part of Civilisation: The Way We Live Now, a landmark 2023 exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery.
Wes Nel for Nikon Australia
She is the author of three acclaimed books including Birdland, released through Hachette in Australia and New Zealand, Abrams in North America and Des Oiseaux published by France- based Atelier EXB / Éditions Xavier Barral in 2020. Her work is held in Australian and international collections including Parliament House Canberra, Artbank Sydney, the Macquarie Bank Group Collection, the Hermès Collections of Contemporary Photographs, the Western Australia Museum and the Museum of Photography in South Korea.
Jeffreys’ artworks have captured the Australian imagination, inspiring Bird Nerd, a documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In 2022, Australia Post released a set of stamps of her iconic images from her High Society series, a love letter to the budgerigar that first showed in 2019 at Sydney’s Olsen Gallery.
Her practice has evolved beyond portraiture into the realm of large-scale conceptual work alongside video and installation art created alongside collaborator Melvin J Montalban. The artist couples a deep moral vision with a commitment to innovation. She uses advanced cameras to capture her subjects in exquisite detail, inviting her audience into a relationship with birds that revolves around a greater depth of perception and startling emotional intimacy.
In a culture that is increasingly disconnected, Jeffreys’ art creates spaces for contemplation and wonder while asking urgent questions about the connections between humans and the natural world.
SOLO
EXHIBITIONS
2025, The Memory of the World, Aotearoa Art Fair with Olsen Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2024, Nature Is Not A Place To Visit. It Is Home. Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW, Australia
2024, Hermès windows, Chadstone - Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast windows
2024, Temple, Collaboration with Melvin J. Montalban,
National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, ACT
2023-2024, Nature Is Not A Place To Visit. It Is Home., Art Gallery of Ballarat, Australia
2023, The wound is the place where the light enters, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2023, Birds, Picture This Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2023, Terre de Plumes, L’Événement Photographique
#2, Jardin botanique Jean-Marie Pelt de Villers-les-Nancy, France
2023, The wound is the place where the light enters, MARS Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2022, The wound is the place where the light enters, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2021, Leila Jeffreys: Flock, Western Plains Cultural Centre Gallery, Dubbo, Australia
2021, High Society, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2021, Leila Jeffreys: Birdland, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney, Australia
2021, Leila Jeffreys and Melvin J. Montalban, Shake The Dust Off Your Wings,
Artists In Residence, The Galeries and City of Sydney, Australia
2020, Peel Street Park Projection Program, Yarra City Arts, Melbourne, Australia
2019-2020, High Society, Olsen Gruin Gallery, New York City, USA
2019, High Society, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2018, Ornithurae, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK view images and exhibition essay
2018, Private Exhibition, The Hamptons, NY, USA
2018, Bergdorf Goodman windows, Bergdorf Goodman, New York City, USA
2018, Ornithurae, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2017-2018, Muse, Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia
2017, Private Exhibition, Los Angeles, USA
2017, Australians in Film Black Tie Dinner, Los Angeles, USA
2017, Ornithurae, Olsen Gruin Gallery, New York City, USA
2016, Bird Love Exhibition, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2015, Wild, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2014, Prey, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia (CCP Staff Favourite - ‘Neville’ 2013)
2012, 'Biolela' Wild Cockatoos, Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Australia view -
2011, Portrait of a Budgerigar, Jonathan Adler, Soho, New York City, USA
2011, Portrait of a Budgerigar, Jonathan Adler, Sloane Ave, London, UK
2010, Portrait of a Budgerigar, Iain Dawson Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, Australia
SELECTED GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2025, Des Oiseaux, Hôtel Fontfreyde Centre photographique de Clermont-Ferrand, France
2024 - 2025, Best in Show - Pets Contemporary Photography, The Momentary, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
2024, Photo London, Purdy Hicks Gallery, Somerset House, London, UK
2024, Art of Music for Noro Music Therapy Charity Gala, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia
2024, Nest, Vivid Sydney
2024, Stargazer Lawn, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2024, London Art Fair, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2024, Feathered, Erin Cluley Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA
2023-24, Best in Show - Pets in Contemporary Photography, Fotografiska New York, NY, USA
2023, Des Oiseaux, Landskrona Foto, Landskrona, Sweden
2023, Photo Paris, FLAT // LAND Amsterdam, at Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, France
2023, Civilization: The Way We Live Now, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2023, Concert Les Chants Du Vivant with L’Orchestre National de Bretagne, Couvent des Jacobins, Rennes, France
2023, Birds - through the lens of international photographers, Breda Photo Festival, Grote Kerk Breda, The Netherlands
2022, Des Oiseaux, Hangar, Brussels, Belgium
2022, Des Oiseaux, Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France
2022, Our Dear Friends, Animals at 212 Photography, Istanbul, Turkey
2021, Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney, Australia
2020, William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia - Finalist for Cut-throat Finch
2020, London Art Fair, London, UK as part of Purdy Hicks Gallery stand
2019, Creatures group exhibition, Olsen Gruin Gallery, New York, USA
2019, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia Finalist for ‘Charcoal and Ash’
2018-2019, Remarkable Lives: The Intertwined Worlds of Birds and Humans, Valene L.Smith Museum of Anthropology, California State University, Chico, CA, USA
2018, Photo London, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2018, Watermill Benefit, Time Bomb, The Hamptons, NY, USA
2017, Birds - Flight Paths, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, VIC, Australia
2017, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia
2016, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2016, London Art Fair, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
2016, Transfer, Australian Centre for Photography, Paddington, Sydney, Australia
2016, Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, Florida, USA
2015, Feathered, Touchstones, Rochdale, UK
2015, Birdland Book Launch, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia
2015, A Summer Group Exhibition, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2015, Australian and International Contemporary Photography, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2013, Contemporary Centre for Photography, Summer Salon, CCP Staff Favourite - ‘Neville’ 2012, Wild Australia, Gallery Reis, Orchard Road, Singapore
2011, Wattle, Contemporary Australian Art, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
COLLECTIONS
Parliament House Art Collection, Australia
Part of the Hermès Collection of Contemporary Photographs Paris since 2021
Part of the Hermès Collection of Contemporary Photographs Sydney since 2020
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia
Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Western Australian Museum, Perth, Australia
Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, Australia
Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich, Australia
Macquarie Bank, Sydney, Australia
Macquarie Bank, Philadelphia, USA
Bergdorf Goodman, New York City, USA
Artbank, Sydney, Australia
21C Museum Hotels, USA
Museum of Photography, Seoul, South Korea
CURRENT & UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS