Michel Lawrence (born 1948) is an Australian writer,[1][2] advertising creative director,[3] portrait photographer[4][5] and documentary director.[2] He also produced two photographic books, Framed: Photographs of Australian Artists[6] and All of Us,[7] documenting the multicultural makeup of Australia.
On leaving university, Lawrence began work as a journalist at the national daily newspaper, The Australian.[4][9][10] At News Ltd, Lawrence worked for the Sunday Australian and The Sunday Telegraph as a political columnist covering both state and federal politics.[11][12][13] After leaving The Australian in 1976, he founded and edited Australia's first skateboard magazine, Slicks.[14][15]
Lawrence was recruited to manage Australian electric folk group, The Bushwackers,[9][16] departing in 1976 with the band for an extended 18-month tour of Europe including England, Scotland and Wales, and recording their album Murrumbidgee[17] at Morgan's Studios, London.[18]
Returning to Australia in 1978, Lawrence founded the design studio Swell Productions which became the advertising agency Burrows Doble Lawrence, with Art Director Bill Burrows and agency Account Director Ed Doble. The agency was sold to D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles[19] and Lawrence was headhunted to the Australian retail agency Mattingly and Partners as its Executive Creative Director.[20] During this period he was also President of the Melbourne Art Directors’ Club.[21]
In 1990, Lawrence was appointed Executive Creative Director of the multi-national agency J. Walter Thompson,[22] eventually being appointed Managing Director of the Melbourne Office in 1998 and then Australian Chairman a year later.[23][24][25][26]
In 2001 while chairman of JWT, Lawrence was asked about the collapse of Australian airline Ansett, in the midst of a pitch for the airline's business. Lawrence told AdNews, "marketing and advertising were never the problems, and neither was ever going to solve deep-seated difficulties [at Ansett]."[27]
Lawrence's second book, All of Us includes photographs of people born in 200 other countries, but who were now living in Australia.[1][7] The project was inspired by the 2005 Cronulla riots.[43][44]All of Us was published by Scribe Books[1][45] and the portraits exhibited at Federation Square, Melbourne[46][47][48] and later in a tour of Indian cities.[49] The 'All of Us' project was launched at Federation Square by the Victorian Premier, John Brumby for Australia Day 2008[5] and was funded by Federal and State governments along with private benefactors.[50]
A subsequent project, 'Indian Aussies' was commissioned by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs[51] and has been touring India after its launch in New Delhi in 2013.[52][53]
Cinematography
In 2012, Lawrence's production company Miro Films[54] began producing the television arts program InsideArt,[55][56] which has run four seasons across Australian public broadcasters in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. In 2014, InsideArt was voted Most Outstanding Australian Arts Program across the public broadcasting network at the Antenna Awards.
^ abc"Readings Monthly"(PDF). Readings - Books, Music, Film - Melbourne's Own Since 1969. February 2008. Archived from the original(PDF) on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
^Van Der Riet, Tessa (21 February 2008). "Education Times"(PDF). Retrieved 24 January 2016 – via Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
