Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 21st April, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - Australian photographic artist Murray Fredericks showcases his latest work in Melbourne and London, Greek artist Aris Georgiou's exhibition opens in Sydney and New Zealand photographer Thomas Slade makes his solo debut in Wellington. Plus grant rounds are open for Getty Grants and W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography and the Indian Photography Festival - Hyderabad calls for entries. Next week, a preview of the 2017 Head On Photo Festival, which promises to be fantastic!


Exhibition: Melbourne & London
Murray Fredericks - Vanity

Australian photographic artist Murray Fredericks has built an international reputation on his epic vistas of Australia’s Lake Eyre, his signature a dead flat horizon that conveys the vastness of space. It is this concept of space that Fredericks is chasing, the idea that in the landscape there is limitless discovery, the opportunity to shift to a different plane, to transcend the known and drift into possibility.

Fredericks keeps going back to Lake Eyre, which is 144km long and 77km wide, to find new ways to engage. He’s now made 17 trips and in his latest series, “Vanity,” he uses a large mirror as a device through which to further explore the vistas of this otherworldly landscape. “Rather than reflecting our own ‘surface’ image, the mirror is positioned to draw our gaze out and away from ourselves, into the environment, driving us towards an emotional engagement with light, colour and space,” he says.

Last night I attended the opening in Melbourne at Arc One Gallery. These are stunning images that when viewed in the gallery are just breathtaking. And no, they are not Photoshopped!

(C) All images Murray Fredericks

Murray Fredericks' 'Vanity' opens at Arc One

Currently showing in Melbourne until 27 May at Arc One Gallery 45 Flinders Lane
Opening in London at Hamiltons Gallery on 28 April, 13 Carlos Pl, Mayfair, London W1K 2EU

Exhibition: Sydney

Aris Georgiou - Circumstantial Evidence 

This exhibition is the first major survey of photographic works by Greek artist Aris Georgiou to be shown in Australia. Curated by Jack Pam (who is the son of Australian photographer Max Pam) Circumstantial Evidence includes photographs spanning a period of thirty years taken in Greece, USA, France, Germany, Israel and India. 

(C) Aris Georgiou

Pam says Georgiou’s body of work “explores the possibilities of human endeavour through a powerfully romantic, creative sensibility. Themes of repetition, memory, hope, dreams and love are consistently confronted in Georgiou’s work as they are warped and exploited by the passage of time”.

Georgiou will be in Australia for the show and will hold an artist’s talk at 2pm on 13th May. A limited edition publication will be produced for the exhibition by the Australian Museum of Contemporary Photography.

26 April to 21 May
Delmar Gallery
Trinity Grammar School
144 Victoria St, Ashfield (Sydney)

Exhibition: Wellington, New Zealand

Thomas Slade - What brings you here? & Translating a silent language


From: What brings you here?

Thomas Slade's first solo exhibition features two bodies of work: What brings you here? and Translating a silent language. 

Slade says, "What brings you here? is a comparative study that examines both the positive and negative changes in rural New Zealand. Why does one town decline while another prospers? Using photography, statistics and interviews this body of work explores differences and consequences of change for two towns (Waverley and Shannon)...These images of rural New Zealand highlight change. They remind us where we have come from as a country and of our identity as New Zealanders."

In contrast, Translating a silent language is a series of photographs made in 2016 in which the chosen subjects were photographed in urban environments under the direction of Slade and the constructed scenes were captured using a high-end digital camera. Both show the artist's versatility.

(C) All images Thomas Slade

Until 15 May
Photospace
1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place
Wellington New Zealand

Grants:

Getty Grants - 5 Grants of US$10,000

Past winner Kirsten Luce

Five photojournalists will be selected to receive grants that will aid in funding projects of personal and journalistic significance. This year the judges are: Alice Gabriner (TIME), Chelsea Matiash, (The Intercept), Thomas Simonetti (Washington Post), Damon Winter (New York Times) and Jean-Francois Leroy (Visa Pour l’Image). Applications close May 15. Apply here. 

W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography

2016 Recipient was Justyna Mielnikiewicz

Annually the W. Eugene Smith grant awards a photographer “who has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to documenting the human condition in the spirit of Smith’s concerned photography and dedicated compassion.” This year the grant has been increased to US$35,000 and entries close on May 31. Click here for details.

Last year’s recipient was Justyna Mielnikiewicz for her project A Diverging Frontier, which she says, “explores borders as ever-changing spheres of influence that overlap physical borders marked on the map. It documents life on the frontier of Europe, and delves into the symbolic meanings and reconstructed historical narratives of these borderlands, which contribute to the formation of national identity and shaping the images of the neighboring countries”. 

Festival:

Indian Photography Festival - Hyderabad

The Indian Photography Festival - Hyderabad invites photographers from all over the world to submit for the 2017 exhibition program. The festival runs from 21 September to 8 October. To find out more visit the website.