As a marine scientist, Joanna Smart strives to limit the impact of aquaculture and wastewater on Tasmania’s marine environment. As a storyteller, she uses her astonishing images to alert people to the majesty and fragility of the underwater world.
Joanna grew up just outside Hobart but spent her summers on the Freycinet Peninsula. She became captivated by the bustle of life she saw under the waves.
In 2019, she graduated from the University of Tasmania with first class honours with a Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Science.
She was then awarded the Australasian Rolex Scholar of the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society. This took her from Fiji to the Faroe Islands and beyond. She swam with great white sharks and worked with National Geographic photographers on the Great Barrier Reef.
Joanna has won many prestigious photography prizes, including the 2020 United Nations World Oceans Day Photo Contest.