The Photograph & Australia

A skilfully composed photograph can evoke so much more than just the scene it’s captured, and in The Photograph and Australia at QAG, some of Australia’s most iconic photographs which show both the country and the art evolving over time are on show.

It’s the largest exhibition of its type since 1988 and the only time the exhibition has been seen outside of New South Wales, so is an ideal opportunity for people to see photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries in the ambience of our wonderful QAG.

The exhibition features over 600 works by more than 120 artists and is drawn from more than 35 private and public collections across Australia, England and New Zealand. These include the National Gallery of Australia, the Queensland Museum and QAGOMA. Photographers represented include Queenslander Tracey Moffatt, Richard Daintree, Charles Bayliss, Olive Cotton, Carol Jerrems, Sue Ford, Ricky Maynard and many more.

Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Deputy Director, Collection and Exhibitions, Maud Page says, “The Photograph and Australia represents the latest thinking on photography and its connection to people, place, culture and history. It explores how photography played a crucial role in the development of our understanding of Australia as a place and Australians as a people.”

One example of this is the haunting, early studio-style portrait, Queensland Natives c.1890s, by an unknown photographer. Another of the precious portraits on show is the acclaimed 1914 photograph by successful photographer and adventurer, Frank Hurley, of himself knee-deep in the Albert River in North West Queensland.

In this era of mobile phones and selfies ad infinitum, photography could be argued to have been degraded somewhat. QAGOMA’s Associate Curator of Australian Art, Michael Hawker, has this to say: “In such an image-saturated world, The Photograph and Australia traces the origins of the medium from the very beginning and how it was used to manufacture and project early images of Australia.” 

by Vicki Englund