When you work with images for a living, there’s a certain intimacy that builds between subject, lens, and the gaze behind it.
Olivia Repaci knows this well. As RUSSH’s Creative Studios and Campaigns Manager, and one of our photographers, her work has its own visual language, instantly recognisable for its candour, elegance, and magnetism. And now, with the launch of her debut photographic monograph Trust, Repaci steps into a new chapter, inviting us into her own body of work through a deeply personal lens.
Released through Minor Press this week at an intimate event held at Cielo Studio in Sydney's Haymarket, Trust marks Repaci’s first solo foray into the world of print publishing. The event, photographed by Repaci using the Fujifilm X-Half camera, was a gathering of creative minds – from artists to models to fashion industry insiders like Roberta Pecoraro, Cynthia Taylu, Jasmine Gee, Nabila Leunig, Shal, and cover model Melody Lulu-Briggs.
The book arrives in four unique versions, each bearing a different photograph on the cover – a subtle gesture toward individuality and the multiplicity of perspectives that live within her archive. Inside, it unfolds as a compendium: fresh models at the dawn of their careers and seasoned faces who have long commanded our gaze. All are shot on film, a medium that, much like Repaci’s own practice, demands patience, instinct, and an unshakable sense of faith in process.
The title, Trust, feels apt. For years, Repaci has been behind some of RUSSH’s most intimate portraits. She has helmed our New Faces series in print – introducing readers to emerging models whose energy is as raw as it is magnetic. She also photographed our expansive 20 Creative Minds shoot for our Legacy 20th anniversary issue, a project that saw her travel across Sydney, London, and Paris to photograph some of our favourite talents (like Gemma Ward, Yan Yan Chan, and William Lodder).
What makes Repaci’s images resonate is their refusal to overstate. Her portraits are stripped of pretense, instead resting in the subtleties: the sidelong glance, the vulnerability of stillness, the strength of quiet presence. With Trust, she extends that invitation to linger, to look more closely. It’s a book of faces, but more than that, it’s a study in relationships – between the sitter and the camera, but also between photographer and subject.
The launch itself felt like a culmination, but also a beginning. For Repaci, Trust is not just an archive, but an offering: an affirmation of her faith in the medium, and of the connections that have shaped her work. In a moment where digital ephemera often eclipses physicality, the decision to print – to hold images in one’s hands, to choose from four tactile covers – feels radical in its simplicity. It reminds us that photography is not just about capturing time, but about slowing it down.
Limited copies of Trust are now available to purchase via the Minor Press website.
