Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now

 Photography | Brian Rope

Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now | Various artists

National Library of Australia Exhibition Gallery | 16 Sep 2022-13 Mar 2023

Viewfinder: Photography from the 1970s to Now explores fifty years in the life of Australia. 125 images from the National Library of Australia's collections reveal a changing Australia and the evolving nature of photography. It looks at powerful Australian documentary photography, from 1970s black and white images to recent vibrant high-definition images.

Quintessential Aussies feature, including shearers, dancers, infantry diggers, knitters, sporting heroes and bronzed bodies on the beach. However, there is a much bigger, far more inclusive story, including William Yang’s winged angels at Mardi Gras in 2003, migrant lives, Australian First Nations people, and the joys of family life.

 

William Yang, Rainbow Angel Wings, New Mardi Gras, 2003,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136950531, courtesy William Yang

 

A 1973 Jon Rhodes image of a ticket booth employee at a railway station would have meaning and memories for his family and all who remember those booths. Others, too young to remember, should also be interested in this snippet of history.

 

Jon Rhodes, Paul Jackson, Dubbo, News South Wales, 1973,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2147881601, courtesy Jon Rhodes

 

There’s a cyclist towing an older woman in a wheeled cart, itself towing a caged dog. Bruce Howard’s delightful 1985 image shows that such modes of transport are not new.

 

Bruce Howard and Herald and Weekly Times, On a bicycle built for ?, 1981,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148147368, courtesy Bruce Howard

 

Bill Bachman’s image of three Aussie blokes having a beer in 1995 is simply classic.

 

Bill Bachman, Council mechanics, Jack Western, Bob Mackenzie and Bryan Steele
having a drink of beer, Gascoyne Junction, Western Australia, ca. 1995,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138088597, courtesy Bill Bachman

 

Anne Zahalka’s colourful 1998 image of Star City Casino is of particular interest right now because it, and other casinos, have been in the news.

 

Anne Zahalka, Star City Casino (after Breughel), 1998,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-150880157, courtesy Anne Zahalka

Matthew Sleeth shows us senior citizens on the footpath to see their much-loved Queen pass by in 2000.

 

Matthew Sleeth, Residents of a Retirement Home are Wheeled onto the Footpath to Watch the Queen, Western Freeway, Friday 24 March 2000,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-145875044, copyright courtesy Matthew Sleeth and Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney

 

And, from 2007, Martin Mischkulnig shows us a very dusty Pilbara Aussie rules venue.

 

Martin Mischkulnig, Warralong, Western Australia, 2007,
nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691608047, courtesy Martin Mischkulnig

 

These are just examples of works from this wonderful collection which is never fully on view at any one time.

 

The exhibition also focusses on the evolving nature of photography as a way of recording our lives and highlights the significant technological advances and increasing diversity of styles, approaches and techniques utilised by photographers over the past five decades.

 

Walking through and taking time to look, study and absorb each work and the accompanying information, I was struck by a message for children under a self-portrait of Tracey Moffatt. It included this definition “A portrait is a painting, drawing or a photograph of a person”. Just 700m away at the National Portrait Gallery, another current exhibition is boldly proclaiming about the show being designed to make visitors think about “the ever-evolving and ever-expanding idea of portraiture”.

 

Does that mean the NLA is out of touch? No, because the images it is showing from its collection are primarily from the past, whereas the diverse artworks on display at the other institution are from collections that have a different focus. Any and all collections in national institutions have an important place and opportunities to view pieces from those collections are most welcome and, indeed, important. Being able to view both exhibitions at the same time is an especially valuable opportunity for us all.

 

So, back to the NLA exhibition. What does it tell us about Australia? The diverse works include well-known pieces that anyone with a modest knowledge of Australian photography will recognise. There are images most of us will not be familiar with, by photographers whose names we may not recollect having heard. Pleasingly, the indigenous country location is identified for each image.

 

The NLA describes its image collections as the photo albums of Australia. They certainly are an invaluable archive that can assist us to understand the story of this country. They reveal the communities we live in, the landscapes we inhabit, our history and moments both significant and ephemeral.

Documentary photographers – including you - capture images that assist us understand both place and people, and to plot our way forward in this uncertain world.

This review was first published online by The Canberra Times here. It is also available on the author's own blog here.

Picture Yourself, and Woodlands, Forests, Life

Photography | Brian Rope

Picture Yourself | Gerry Orkin

Woodlands, Forests, Life by David Wong

Photo Access | 18 Nov 2022 - 17 Dec 2022

Gerry Orkin and David Wong are Canberra locals, and each of their exhibitions  here celebrates and explores aspects of life in the nation's capital.

Orkin was a founding member of Photo Access. He helped develop and deliver documentary and participatory photography projects so communities could tell their own stories.

With Picture Yourself, Orkin moved away from the traditional documentary approach, handing image making and storytelling to the subjects themselves.

Comprising images captured during Summer 1985, the exhibition is seventy-four unconventional, yet uncomplicated, artworks showing Canberra’s community.

Orkin set up a tripod-mounted camera in temporary structures at public events and invited passers-by to take “selfies” by squeezing a hand-held bulb to trigger the shutter.

The photographs include individuals, plus small and large groups. Orkin was investigating the idea that something interesting might happen when he asked people “who are you?” - to make it possible to show (not just tell) stories about themselves, in one photograph, at that moment.

The results are delightful and quirky. If you went to Sunday in the Park events or Canberra Day parades in that 1985 Summer, you may well have gone into the booth with some family or friends and posed for the camera. Whether you did or not, this is an exhibition every then resident of Canberra should visit to explore this wonderful collection and see if you recognise anyone. Indeed, even if you didn’t live in Canberra at that time, you will love looking at these people shots. So, do yourself a favour and visit this exhibition.

Prints of images are available for purchase in various sizes and can be viewed at https://pictureyourself.picflow.com/catalogue. Orkin also seeks our assistance to identify the people pictured and you can do that on the catalogue website. There is also a book containing all 74 images which can be purchased from Photo Access.

Gerry Orkin - Picture Yourself, 1985

And whilst visiting, you will also very much enjoy the companion exhibition. From an early age, Wong has loved nature and explored the bushland areas close to his home. The high-quality prints of his imagery on show are a beautiful collection of photos of those places - and what he has found and seen in them.

These Woodlands, Forests, Life artworks span around a decade and explore the different aspects of eucalypt ecosystems within local nature reserves – their variety and quality, their safeguarding. And also explores people seeking to understand, restore and protect them. Woodlands, Forests, Life is also part of a broader 2022 Eucalypt Australia Dahl Fellowship project.

The strength of this exhibition lies in its broad coverage. There are wonderful woodland landscapes, but also much more.

David Wong - Bruce Ridge, 2021

There are the elements of those woodlands, including a beetle, a gum hopper, a bull ant, moss capsules, a gecko, and fungi.

David Wong - Eastern Stone Gecko

There are images relating to the threats to woodlands and about the good folk who are involved in various ways seeking to protect them - a fence, a sculpture, a sign.

 

David Wong - Little Eagle, Ginninderry, 2022

There are even polaroid prints of the woodlands cascading from a wall onto the floor with an invitation for visitors to take a piece of the landscape.

All this is accompanied by an excellent catalogue essay by Canberra photographer Chris Holly and two great pieces of Wong’s own writing on top of two pedestals in the gallery. Here’s just a snippet from The Helpers: 

When the morning news

tells of apocalypse

They get to work

 

Writing letters

Chipping weeds

Teaching kids

Testing hypotheses

All the images and accompanying words in this quality exhibition should result in visitors getting out into the woodlands to, as Holly says, stand among eucalypts and recognise who you are.

This review was first published online by The Canberra Times on 28/11/22 here then in the print version on page 10 of Panorama on 3.12.22. It is also available on the author's blog here,