Tag: photography
Shadow catchers
Thursday, July 2nd, 2020 Sydney Morning Herald Column,In Adelbert von Chamisso’s gothic tale, Peter Schlemihl, the hero sells his shadow to the devil in exchange for a purse perpetually filled with gold, but all the wealth in the world is not enough to compensate for the horror he inspires when his lack of a shadow is noticed. For “shadow” we might read […]
David Goldblatt: Photography & Truth
Friday, August 9th, 2019 Blog,David Goldblatt will always be known as the photographer who exposed the evils of Apartheid to the world, but to characterise him as a ‘political’ artist is to diminish the breadth of his achievements. This is something Goldblatt has in common with all great photographers who have found their subjects in war, poverty, hatred and […]
Tracey Moffatt & Kartika Kain
Thursday, July 18th, 2019 Sydney Morning Herald Column,On a rare week when I was able to get back to the commercial galleries there were a few tempting propositions. Chief among them, Peter Godwin’s Mask, Music and Studio at Defiance at Mary Place (until 25 July) – a really tough collection of still lifes that push the boundaries of the genre, picking up […]
Dina Goldstein – Lyons Gallery, Sydney
Saturday, May 18th, 2019 Good Weekend Art Column,Artist: Dina Goldstein Lives: Vancouver, Canada Age: 49 Represented by:Lyons Gallery, Paddington, Sydney (Plus galleries in USA, Canada, UK, Italy, France and Portugal) Her thing.Humorous-but-serious, elaborately staged colour photographs on the theme of religion in a secular world. Our take.Every year Sydney’s Head-On Photo Festival gets bigger and more ambitious. Among a range of leading […]
David Goldblatt: Photographs 1948-2018
Friday, November 23rd, 2018 Sydney Morning Herald Column,“I was never interested in making propaganda for anybody,” said David Goldblatt, “and didn’t allow my photos to be used that way.” It’s an important point because even Goldblatt’s admirers tend to see him as a political photographer who drew global attention to the injustices of Apartheid. As this landmark retrospective at the Museum of […]
Head On Photo Festival 2018
Friday, May 18th, 2018 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Head On is still not getting the attention it deserves. We make a big fuss about the Sydney Biennale, we go wild for Vivid, we swarm over the Sydney foreshores during Sculpture by the Sea, but after ten years the Head On Photo Festival survives on a fraction of the resources devoted to other events. […]
Chinese New Year Lunar Lanterns & In Your Dreams
Friday, February 23rd, 2018 Sydney Morning Herald Column,Bread and circuses was the classical world’s formula for keeping the population happy. The famous phrase originates in Juvenal’s 10th Satire, when the poet laments that Romans have become so blasé about the political process they are happy to sell their votes for grain handouts and lavish public entertainments. With the NSW Government proposing to […]
The Unflinching Gaze
Friday, November 24th, 2017 Sydney Morning Herald Column,In the entire history of Australian regional galleries there has never been a show like The Unflinching Gaze: Photo Media & the Male Figure. Retiring director, Richard Perram, has decided to go out on a high note with a exhibition that has been years in preparation. Despite the double entendre in the title Perram doesn’t […]
Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium
Friday, November 17th, 2017 Sydney Morning Herald Column,It may be the acid test of political correctness but it should be possible to dislike Robert Mapplethorpe’s work without being viewed as homophobic. Mapplethorpe often said he didn’t wish to be known as a “gay artist”, but he is such an icon for the LGBT community it’s virtually impossible to dissociate his work from […]
Farewell Stills
Saturday, July 15th, 2017 Blog,Twenty-six years is a long time to be running a commercial gallery, let alone a gallery specialising in photography. When Kathy Freedman and her partners close Stills Gallery in mid-July, it will spell the end of a long adventure in convincing Sydney audiences that photography is art. Stills began life in a Paddington terrace house […]