Cybele Malinowski

Cybele Malinowski is a Sydney-based photographer and director with two decades of experience working with celebrities, fashion icons, and cultural figures, across both stills and motion. Her practice is rooted in portraiture that is simultaneously cinematic, stylised, and conceptually rigorous, exploring how identity and persona are performed and perceived.

Over the years, Malinowski has directed editorial campaigns, fashion shoots, and high-profile celebrity portraits, bringing a hands-on, precise approach to lighting, composition, and direction. This experience informs her more experimental work, including DEEP FAKE, a series of large-scale portraits of celebrity impersonators in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The project investigates how identity can be worn, amplified, or subverted, exploring the interplay between homage, illusion, and the mediated self in contemporary visual culture.

In addition to her photography practice, Cybele is the founder of Agender, a collective and platform supporting female photographers. Agender, has organised exhibitions, mentorship programs, and industry initiatives that amplify women’s work in photography, create professional opportunities, and foster a community of support and collaboration across editorial, commercial, and fine-art sectors.

Cybele’s methodology integrates carefully staged photography, considered lighting, and post-production techniques to create work that is formally compelling while conceptually layered. Exhibitions, editorial commissions, and collaborative projects have shaped a practice defined by technical precision, narrative clarity, and engagement with contemporary visual culture. Cybele aims to create work that invites critical reflection while remaining immediate and accessible to the viewer.