Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope
Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2024 |
Various Artists
Photo Access, Canberra | 13 - 29 June 2024
The 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize is a competition and exhibition open to all photo-artists worldwide, aiming to highlight fresh viewpoints in Contemporary photography.
The inaugural 2023 Prize exhibited all 72
submitted works, some of which I believed were not Contemporary works. This
year, 198 entries were received from local and distant places, including the
USA. There are fifty finalists, roughly half being women and half being men.
The overall quality of the Contemporary works selected is excellent. The three
judges - Sandy Barnard - The Master, Sandy Prints, Oscar Capezio - Curator, ANU
Drill Hall and Janice Falsone - Director, CCAS - must have had a most difficult
task choosing them. The prize-winners they selected would not, of course, be
everyone’s choices, but both are certainly Contemporary and deserving of
recognition.
Melbourne-based Lisa Jayne Cramer took second prize with an inkjet print She carries his grief (self-portrait), 2024. The artist statement accompanying the work says it all - From my series, ‘YOUR child, MY child, EVERYONE'S Child’, to express how grief makes demands on us, that she carries his grief. A very silent, personal journey into grief for a child that never happened, proposing dense ideas about a reformulated family structure.
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| She carries his grief (self-portrait), 2024 © Lisa Jayne Cramer |
More of Cramer’s work can be seen at https://www.lisajaynecramer.com/ and @lisajaynecramer.
Now Sydney-based, Caleb Arcifa whose work has been seen previously in View 2024, Photo Access’s annual showcase of emerging photo-media artists from the ACT and surrounding regions, took out the first prize with a giclee enlargement from a silver gelatin original. It has the intriguing title Sonant Autograph of Joini (If I Ain’t Got You), 2023. Some of you will be familiar with the Alicia Keys track If I Ain’t Got You with its deep meaning lyrics and draw parallels.
The artist statement accompanying the work reveals that sound has been used to augment the photographic process, the print being 'signed' by the sitter’s unique sonic identity. It suggests that the portrait captures more than a visual likeness, questioning the notion of self in this Artificial Intelligence age. It describes the portrait as ephemeral, which means lasting a very short time. Let’s hope it doesn’t disappear before the exhibition closes!
I couldn’t find much about Arcifa on the web, but he is on Instagram as @thecontainerlab where I learned he is designing and fabricating a collaborative photo/design studio, darkroom/print lab and workshop in multiple freight containers.
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| Sonant Autograph of Joini (If I Ain’t Got You), 2023 © Caleb Arcifa |
I only have space to mention two other finalists. Sydney resident Orlando Luminere has a passion for helping others develop their photography, including by setting up a photography department in a training college. His entry is a fine example of photography using a camera obscura he constructed from urban waste materials. I’ve known this artist and his artwork for a very long time and own a copy of his book about iPhone photography. I’ve participated in an online workshop watching him construct a camera obscura. One day I must have a crack at making one myself.
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| Souvenirs, 2024 © Orlando Luminere |
The current arts practice project of Canberra’s Hilary Wardhaugh includes works created in response to feeling absolutely helpless and powerless to change the inhumane narrative of the International Criminal Court’s ‘plausible genocide’ in Gaza. She hopes her artworks resonate with others, creating a sense of shared understanding. A Meditation of Death, 2024, is part of that project - a solemn tribute to 24,000 lives lost in Gaza by 3 January 2024. Each of twelve lumen prints has approximately 2000 dots capturing the essence of those who died, inviting viewers to reflect on the profound impact of violence and loss. The major process involved in creating all those dots is detailed on Wardhaugh’s website here. If you purchase a copy from the artist, she will donate a significant amount to UNHCR in your name.
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| A Meditation of Death, 2024 © Hilary Wardhaugh |
Congratulations to Photo Access and all the finalists.
This review is also available on the author's blog here.