Photofile 87 - The Portrait Issue

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Editor: Ashley Crawford

And the winner is... A funny thing happened on the way to the deadline of this issue of Photofile; three writers; almost simultaneously, wanted to write about the plethora of photographic awards that seem to have swamped the genre of late. Both Anne Marsh and Maurice O'Riordan took The National Photographic Portraiture Prize as a springboard for highly incisive discussions on the stature of photography today; the blurring lines between high and low art, between popular and elitist culture and the simple fact that photography in our national institutions is by now well and truly entrenched.

Andrew Quilty as the judge of the 2009 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize took a more personal position, delving into the process of that most arduous of tasks - being The Judge. What is striking is the sheer multitude of artists taking up the camera to capture a person's likeness, and the seemingly never fading desire to pin the portrait. The Moran Prize of course is not exclusively portraiture, but it is intriguing that Quilty cites the landscape image of the Murray-Darling Basin, Dean Sewell's A Dry Argument as one of the more powerful images in the prize show. He quotes the famous landscape photographer, Ansel Adams, who stated: "a great photograph" is "a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety."

In this A Dry Argument becomes a portrait of the inner thoughts of any environmentally conscious Australian. Quilty sums this image up by saying it: "reveals life as it is in reality, in its purest form, unfettered by extraneous influence, manipulation or concept." Eschewing computer trickery, Sewell's is a powerful portrait of a dying land.

The environment is also the core concern of Ash Keating's work. One of the key images of his oeuvre reveals the artist dressed in rubbish on the streets of Korea; an unlikely and disturbing sight indeed and one that hammers home his commentary that excessive waste comes with considerable power. At heart Keating's photographs are documentary archives of live performances.

Bernhard Sachs' work also at times strays into documentary approach, but the bulk of his recent work - a melding of photographs taken by his father and his own - seems to border on almost fetishistic self examination. Physically Sachs is rarely the subject (occasional dinner-performances being the exception) but psychologically these works are clearly self-portraiture.

The contrast between approaches - from strict portraiture to documentary to self-exploration is given another twist in the works of Daniel Crooks, a multi-media artist extraordinaire who seems determined to manipulate time itself. Here Kirsten Rann places Crooks on a firmly modernist trajectory. This issue also introduces a new national editorial advisory board in order to ensure broader Australia-wide coverage. Accordingly I would like to welcome on board David Broker, Robert Cook, Michael Edwards, Steve Eland, Ross Wolfe and Nick Mitzevich to help us steer Photofile into broader waters.

Regulars:

  • Editorial
  • Contributors
  • Debut: Wiebke Brix
  • Previews: Dennis Hopper, Albert Tucker and Vanity Fair
  • Rant: Personal Space by Steve Eland

Features:

  • The Judge: The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize by Andrew Quilty
  • Wonders in Portraitland: The National Portrait Gallery by Maurice O’Riodan
  • Photography Now: The National Portrait Prize 2009 by Anne Marsh
  • Imaginary Homelands from Singapore: by Lesley Chow

Portfolios:

  • Between Bacchanalia and Melancholia: Bernard Sachs by Ashley Crawford
  • All That Is Solid Melts: Daniel Crooks by Kirsten Rann
  • Trans-Garbage Aesthetics: Ash Keating by Melissa Amore

Exhibition Reviews:

  • Bernadette Keys' Odalisque by Ruth Learner
  • And the Difference Is by Leon Goh
  • Anne Ferran by Anne Kirker
  • Corin Hewitt, Seed Stage by Ingrid Periz
  • Narelle Autio, The Summer of Us by Virginia Baxter
  • The Pictures Generation by Ingrid Periz
  • Jill Orr by Kirsten Rann

Book Reviews:

  • Rhys Lee by Tom Fantl
  • Love Faith Death by Tom Fantl
  • Photography Between Poetry and Politics by Tom Fantl

IMAGE © Sam Ruttyn Brian Ebersole - Cage Fighter (detail) 2008



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