Deloraine-based photographer Joy Kachina has achieved international recognition for a series of powerful images highlighting Tasmania’s endangered native trees, placing the spotlight firmly on our island’s unique and threatened forest ecosystems.
In a remarkable year of success, Kachina was named Photographer of the Year 2025 in the prestigious International Natural Landscape Awards. She is the first woman and the first Australian to receive the honour, which attracted more than 11,000 entries from around the world.
Her award-winning portfolio focused on Tasmanian native trees, with a strong emphasis on the endangered Miena Cider Gums. “Our Impact,” one of the standout images, depicts a deceased cider gum caught in a snowstorm in the Central Highlands near Miena. The work earned her Overall Runner-Up in the 2025 Australian Landscape Awards.
Further recognition followed when she was named a finalist in the 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year. That image, a young blackwood tree captured in the Meander Valley, is currently touring in a national exhibition.
The series has been part of a personal five-year project documenting the decline of the Miena Cider Gums and the broader threats facing Tasmania’s native forests. Kachina said she hopes her work will raise awareness of these fragile ecosystems and the impacts of environmental change.
“Winning these awards has been a huge honour, but more importantly, I hope it helps shine a light on the plight of our native forests here in Tasmania,” Kachina says.
Adding to her accolades, she also received a Gold Award in the 2025 Australian Better Photography Competition.
To celebrate and continue the conversation about forest conservation, Kachina will be exhibiting alongside fellow Deloraine-based artists Fiona Francois and Cindy Watkins in February 2026 at the Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart. The exhibition, which will focus on the beauty and vulnerability of Tasmanian forests, will be opened by environmentalist Bob Brown. Guest speakers will include Dr Katherine Tuft from the Tasmanian Land Conservancy and Landcare.
