Matthew O'Brien, The Congregation, Saints Peter and Paul (PEOPLE 2026)

Web:

http://matthewobrien.com.au

Coober Pedy sits deep in the South Australian desert. To escape the heat, the community dug its homes, shops and churches directly into the sandstone. On the surface, summer passes 45°C. A few metres down, the rock holds a steady 23, year round. Saints Peter and Paul was the first church in the town to hold Mass underground. It opened in 1967, chiselled out by hand by the opal miners working the fields, no machinery. Most of those miners are gone now, the town emptying year on year. Among the families in the pews now are recent arrivals, migrants who live above ground in the town's surface housing and come down each Sunday into the cool of the rock for Mass. One generation dug the church out of the desert. Another fills it now. From Youth Underground, an ongoing series across 2026 and 2027. Available light, nothing staged, composed in camera, uncropped.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.