The less you know, the more you believe., 2026

A lack of knowledge leaves room for one to believe in anything they are told. The more knowledge one has, through reading or life experience, the less likely they are to follow blindly. The idea with this portrait was to speak to that juxtaposition, to address the gap between knowing a lot and knowing nothing. 

On one end of that scale is Gill. On the other is the 19 year old man who knew very little, but was fed just the right amount of information for him to believe that detonating the bombs in his backpack on a crowded London train in 2005 would make the world a better place. 



The gap in this instance was where Gill's legs were amputated following the bombing, and where her prosthetics began, and using this space, this tension, we filled it with books to illustrate how knowledge makes someone taller, metaphorically. 



Gill survived this ignorant act, and is using her life to advocate for peace and for knowledge. She believes knowing more, not less, is what actually makes the world a better place.

Benjamin Liew has spent nearly two decades making photographs across advertising, commercial, documentary and portrait work. He’s based in Adelaide and has never been represented by a commercial gallery. He exhibits independently, most recently in the 2026 SALA festival.

He’s comfortable controlling light in a studio environment but finds the most compelling photographs happen when he doesn’t have to. Since 2012 he has made a self-portrait every single day, a practice he extended to both his children from the day they were born.

In 2019 he was named Documentary Photographer of the Year in South Australia with photographs of Charlie Teo performing brain surgery, and was a finalist in the Bowness Photography Prize the same year. Earlier wins include 2015 Travel Photographer of the Year and National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist in 2012. In 2025 he was named Commercial Photographer of the Year and was also a finalist in the NZIPP Iris Awards, the Nyland Prize and the National Emerging Art Prize.