Posts Tagged ‘Queensland Centre for Photography’
PHOTOBOOK INDEPENDENT: Our books in Hollywood – thanks to QCP
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As part of its international activities for Queensland and Australian photographers the Queensland Centre for Photography participated in the inaugural Photo Independent art fair at Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles 1–3 May, 2015. The main Australian contingent consists of the wall images of 12 photomedia artists. They are Anna Carey, Belinda Kochanowska, Chris Bowes, David La Roche, Henri van Noordenburg, Kim Demuth, Kelly Hussey-Smith & Alan Hill, Katelyn-Jane Dunn, Lynette Letic, Michael Cook and Marian Drew.
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An additional aspect of Photo Independent is one dedicated to the recognition of photographers who work in the book format. Called Photobook Independent the QCP curated a selection of 16 Australian photo publishers to present in the L.A. event.
In QCP media about these two events the following statement was made:
The QCP is excited to be part of this ground-breaking event as the world of photography will set its focus on Los Angeles 1–3 May, 2015 for a weekend celebrating international photography and the most talented image-makers across various genres of the medium. Numerous high profile art fairs including Paris Photo Los Angeles, Photo Contemporary, Photo Independent and PhotoBook Independent will launch their annual editions in Hollywood with additional special photography exhibitions throughout Los Angeles. The weekend promises to offer the enthusiastic art patron a plethora of opportunities to experience photography at its highest calibre.
The photobook publishers were: Ingvar Kenne, Dane Beesley, Anne Ferran, Lindsay Varvari, Rohan Hutchinson, Julie Shiels, Prudence Murphy, Christopher Young, Paul Batt, Ian Tippett, Doug Spowart, Victoria Cooper, Gemma Avery, Michelle Powell, Mathias Heng and Christopher Köller.
Interviews with the artists and photobook makers can be found on the LUCIDA Site: http://lucidamagazine.com/
Biogs on the photobook participants can be seen here: http://qcpinternational.com/portfolios/photo-book-independent-2015/
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About Victoria’s Book: PILLIGA
Pilliga is the culmination of 10 years work. It is informed by the many physical, psychological and metaphorical journeys through this enigmatic place during the decade of its creation.
This book is not a topographic depiction of the Pilliga Scrub, a remote location in the Australian Bush. Rather it is a human story of lurking deep anxiety manifested as a destructive invisible entity feeding on fears of the unknown and unknowable.
A PDF of the book can be seen here:PILLIGA-redsmr
The book can be purchased from BLURB here: http://blur.by/1Q9cGhh
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About Doug’s Book: I HAVE INHABITED A PLACE FREQUENTED BY ARTISTS MAKING THEIR ART …
This book relates to the experience of being a documentary photographer within the world. The subject, a deserted artist’s studio, becomes an immersive landscape for investigation. This photobook expresses a personal narrative about loss, absence, place, and concepts around the relationship between the non-human and the working practices of artists.
A PDF of the book can be seen here: I have inhabited a place …red2
The book can be purchased from AMAZON here: http://blur.by/1K65dMu
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QCP FUNDING CUT: Statements 1&2 from the QCP Board
FOLLOWING ON FROM PREVIOUS POST: LETTER TO THE MINISTER SUPPORTING THE QCP.
NOW THE QCP HAS HAD ITS QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT FUNDING CUT
STATEMENT #1 Posted by QCP today (November 11, 2013) on their Lucida Site:
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UPDATE
THE QCP HAS BEEN ABLE TO NEGOTIATE SUPPORT TO CONTINUE ALL PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS INCLUDING THE QLD FESTIVAL OF PHOTOGRAPY, LA ART FAIR & CONFERENCE UNTIL THE END OF APRIL 2014
STATEMENT #2 Posted by QCP December 11, 2013 on their Lucida Site:
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OTHER RELATED COMMENTARIES:
Overland Website – Article by Alison Croggon:
http://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-212/feature-alison-croggon/
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Tamara Winikoff on current cuts to the Arts in Queensland:
http://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/all-arts/savage-queensland-arts-cuts-197252
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Article by David Broker, director of CCAS, reflecting on funding cuts by the Queensland Government to QCP:
http://canberracontemporaryartspace.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/qcp-hard-times/
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ImageNews comments:
http://imagenews.com.au/article/savage-implementation-reform
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Queensland Centre for Photography Continued Arts Qld Funding: A letter to the Minister
SEE UPDATE ON FUNDING: https://wotwedid.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/qcp-funding-cut-statement-from-the-qcp-board/
Beyond everything else in contemporary life we all need creative stimulation and engagement with things bigger than ourselves – Photography does that better than just about anything else, and the QCP is the most important centre of photographic thought and activity in Queensland, and perhaps even Australia. We need this organisation to be supported by private and public institutions to match the acclaim and recognition that it has rightfully earned through darn hard work and its dedication to artists and those who appreciate the beauty, and the expression, that can be found and shared through the photograph.
The QCP funding provided by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland is about to be reviewed. Over the last few months the QCP and its supporters have been gathering evidence of their activities and the important and necessary service that they provide to photographers and the photographically interested public in Queensland. Despite the support that the QCP gains from private donors, the income derived from exhibitions and publications and other activities, as well as substantial in-kind volunteer support, the additional funding provided by AQ enables so much more to be achieved.
QCP Director Maurice Ortega contacted me in July to provide a personal support letter to the minister – the text of which is listed below. Recently I have received a response from the minister, which I have attached for your information.
You can support the QCP by adding your name to the online petition that is listed below – but be quick, as the numbers need to be tallied soon.
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A LETTER TO THE MINISTER SUPPORTING THE QCP
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August 6, 2013
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The Honourable Ian Walker
Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts
Level 5, Executive Building
100 George Street
BRISBANE QLD 4000
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Subject: A letter of support for the Queensland Centre for Photography
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Dear Minister,
In 1980 I co-founded with my mother Ruby a facility in Brisbane to provide a focus for the people of Queensland who were interested in all facets of photography. This included: exhibitions, their display and curatorship; a training and workshop facility; and a meeting place. The gallery was called Imagery and operated essentially as an artists-run initiative until 1995. The activities of Imagery Gallery were considered so significant that its complete archive was accepted by the State Library of Queensland, and as such, has become part of the history of this state.
In 2004, a proactive group of academics and practitioners, recognising the absence of a dedicated facility like Imagery for the support and development of photography in Queensland, founded the Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP). Over the nine years of operation, the managing team headed by Director Maurice Ortega and Deputy-Director Camilla Birkeland, have developed the QCP into an internationally recognized centre for the art of photography.
The costs associated with the QCP operation not only comes from government grant funding but also through the valuable support of corporate sponsors and the work of an energetic committee of volunteers and interns.
QCP initiatives include the following key programs:
- The exhibition program
- The educational program
- The publication program
- The international program
- The QCP collection
- The biennial Queensland Festival of Photography.
With the biennial Queensland Festival of Photography (QFP) the QCP gathered together a statewide coverage of exhibition venues and the QFP travelling series of lectures and forums placed the organisation’s commitment firmly within the regional space of Queensland. Further to this they have taken Queensland photographers and their works to international venues and gained significant recognition for Queensland themes and stories.
I am a regional artist, a TAFE teacher of photography, a critic and commentator on art and photography, and a member of many photography organizations including the Australian Institute of Professional Photography with service as chair of national subcommittees. It is my opinion that the QCP’s contribution to the practice and art of photography is significant and vital to the fabric of cultural activity and its growth in Queensland.
Photography today is ubiquitous; it permeates every aspect of society, every age group and interest. People employ photography in science, in information and communication technology. Most importantly photography is universally the medium of story telling and the QCP’s activities across the state provide support for Queenslanders to create and present these communiqués to national and international audiences.
The Queensland Centre for Photography has made a proven contribution to the state of Queensland in supporting and fostering the important practice and art that is photography and its contribution to cultural development. I therefore ask that you positively consider the ongoing support funding to enable this important Queensland initiative to continue doing its work for Queenslanders into the future.
Yours faithfully
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Dr Doug Spowart M.Photog, FAIPP, HonFAIPP
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PHOTO TREASURE: The QCPs ‘Treasures: The art of collecting’
REVIEW: Treasures: The art of collecting
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I’m an obsessive collector. It’s a big problem because I’m finding it difficult to store everything …
Martin Parr talking about his book collection 1.
Collecting photographs and collecting collections is the subject of the current exhibition at the Queensland Centre of Photography. 72 photographic works on loan from 23 collections both significant and personal, fill the exhibition space. The works represent a wide selection of the history of the medium, the range of themes pursued by photographers and the stuff that collectors collect.
The exhibition was curated by QCP Director Maurice Ortega and was drawn from the contacts, colleagues and members of the QCP fraternity. Works from significant collectors like Daryl Hewson and Fred Hunt were prominently featured in the show. Other works came from the QCP’s own collection, many of which have interesting provenance, were gifts to the Centre, or to members of QCP photography fair delegations travelling overseas.
Each work has a unique story not only of the photograph’s making but also of the collector’s possession and the story of ownership. To pass on these dual narratives each work is accompanied by a comprehensive didactic panel that provides a connection with why the work was collected and its meaningfulness for the collector.
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On Sunday 14th April Maurice Ortega gave a floor talk about the Treasures. He discussed the idea and practice of collecting generally and then walked through the space drawing attention to selected works–their owners and any special stories around their provenance.
Ortega spoke of the importance of collectors and how they can support artists at all levels of their careers. He noted that in Australia so many art photographers make a fine start in their professional practice but so often slip from view due to the inability for them to derive sufficient income to survive. He lamented the lack of a passion for collecting within Australia citing the success of the American scene. A video presentation in the gallery shows, as an example, the collection of Steven Reinstein and it’s presentation within a home. It is a grand statement about how ‘amazing’ the personal accumulation of art can be.
In Ortega’s catalogue statement he pays great respect to the collector by stating that:
… collectors of every kind should be celebrated and emulated; first for directly supporting the artist, second for maintaining cultural diversity and thirdly for keeping art thoroughly democratic by keeping it grounded on its domestic domain, that of everyday life.
The Treasures exhibition may be a significant look into the art of collecting but it has many other valuable outcomes. It presents to visitors an array of photographic materials, techniques, themes and makers, the like of which has not been shown in this region for some time. It highlights the importance of collection and possession and the link that it provides for a supporting structure within art photography. And it must also surprise the viewer of the exhibition with the spectacular range of art photography that exists out in the wilds of the private collector.
Furthermore this exhibition is a curatorial tour de force and is an example of the significant role that the QCP plays within Queensland–perhaps even Australia, in the provision of true and relevant exhibitions of what the art of photography is, and what can be…
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Dr Doug Spowart
For images and more details of the exhibition SEE http://www.qcp.org.au/exhibitions/current/album-791/28
A personal postscript: Like Martin Parr I’m an obsessive collector of photographs, photographica, photobooks and photo ephemera. I was asked by Maurice for a piece from my collection for the Treasures show–I selected a calotype print made from a Henry Fox Talbot negative c1843. Printed by author, historian and Kodak Museum Curator Brian Coe in 1976. The provenance of the photograph was that it was an award won by me in the Kodak International of Photography in that year. Due to difficult display requirements it was decided not to include the work in the Treasures show.
1. Badger, G 2003, Collecting Photography, Mitchell Beazley Ltd., London.
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Images of the exhibition installation and text by Doug Spowart .
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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July 16, 2011 QCP Opening
We attended the opening of the latest QCP show featuring major works by Carolyn Lewens, Peter Charuk, Peter Annand, Vivian McLatchie and the Voicing Concerns group. It’s a diverse show with some remarkable works.
SEE the YouTube Video review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYwXDoYj3Ho
April – QCP Artists of the Month
This month we are ARTISTS OF THE MONTH on the QUEENSLAND CENTRE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY website
SEE the site here: http://www.qcp.org.au/