Ann Elias is Professor of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Sydney. Her research on oceans concentrates on the undersea with a particular focus on visual history, and visual representations of the underwater. She is very interested in underwater photography, underwater dioramas, and aquarium culture. She is currently working on a book-length project investigating the underwater history of Sydney Harbour. Elias has published three monographs, including Coral Empire: Underwater oceans, colonial tropics, visual modernity (Duke University Press, 2019), a visual history of early filmmaking and photography at the Great Barrier Reef of Australia including the intersections of visual culture with social and environmental histories.