Photographer M. Ellen Burns captures regional bar culture in Skimpies

Sydney-born photograpger M.Ellen Burns has spent over two years of documenting WA’s skimpy bar culture, capturing a world that is well-known but rarely understood.

Her new photography book, Skimpies, goes beyond the surface to explore the realities of the women who work in this industry – many of whom are drawn to it for financial independence, felxibility, and sense of community.

Burns joins Jeff Bullen for On The Record alongside one of the barmaids in the photography book, Sophie, to discuss the origins of the project and regional pub life.