Conversations—

As the curator of Photo Sydney, what excites you most about launching this new sector of Sydney Contemporary?

Tim Etchells, the Sydney Contemporary owner, has been working to include a Photo section for several years now. The space became available and there has been no shortage of applicants for this first outing for Photo Sydney. We have 15 booths which include 30 photographic artists altogether. I worked as Co-director of Stills Gallery (run by Kathy Freedman) for many years and during this time we were always trying to showcase photography as a uniquely important artform. In the past photography was seen to be a work on paper and it was available in editions, and although photography can still be editioned, it can be presented at large scale and with a vast choice of prestigious presentation methods. In previous times prints were commonly smaller in size.

Photography is seen as being immutable because the image is created from a notion of the ‘real’ world. A painter uses paints and imagination to create a ‘representation’ of an image. A photograph is an imprint of the photographer’s vision.

There are many fine photo artists in Australia. Their style, subject matter and presentation varies widely. This first presentation of Photo Sydney offers a broad range of techniques and subject matter.

What are your top tips for starting or growing a photography collection, are there particular things collectors should look for when acquiring works?

Required qualities include an enthusiasm for art in general, a passion for photography as art, and a personal decision about meeting your specific budget. Emerging photo artists can be a more affordable starting point for a collector than an established photo artist.

Ask lots of questions, follow and believe in your instincts and interests in subject matter, style and presentation. Photo Sydney is a great playing field because you will be talking directly to the photo artists in their booths.

It may help to educate yourself about the history of photography which is a combination of art, history and technology. Points to make note of include the profile of the photo artist, the genre of photography (documentary, colour or black and white), your preferences for subject matter, framed or unframed (framing can be a cost on top of the artwork cost), etc.

Photographs used to be black and white only; now with digital technology colour is predominant, and an image can be made on various paper types and with multiple scales and presentation methods.

Are there any standout artists, works, you think visitors absolutely shouldn’t miss – and why?

There is such variety in this inaugural Photo Sydney. I will touch on a sample from the wide range of approaches to demonstrate that breadth.

Documentary photography is the original form of photographic expression.

Chris Ireland has dedicated hours of time to humanise and herald public housing in Sydney. The Greenway building is situated at the north end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Chris introduced himself to residents and what emerges is a community that has a beating heart and a humanity we can all identify with. His photography is classic black and white prints in the tradition of documentary.

Paul Blackmore also works in the documentary tradition, however, since the late 1990s colour became embraced as a form. Paul has a bold eye and his striking colour and compositions are highly memorable.

Pictured left: Paul Blackmore, The Ball, 2024. Pictured right: Simon Harsent, Melt, Portrait of an Iceberg #5.

Other documentary photographers in this inaugural Photo Sydney include Blender, specialising in historical rock and roll music photographs; Oculi, a collective of Australian photographers and photojournalists; Simon Harsent, who has a series of eerily moody ice flows photographed in the Arctic ocean, and John Gollings’ strikingly colourful aerial documentation of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires across Victoria.

Photography as Art

Toby Burrows’ images are both staged and natural (as in documenting nature). They become poetic and transporting. The hand of the artist is visible.

With Greg Weight (Australian Galleries), look out for the description of paintograph. Greg is an artist of quite some pedigree and is known for his black and white portraits of well-known Australian artists. His more recent methodology of painting on photographs has found him inventing a new term, paintograph, a photograph that has been embellished by paint. Greg says the paintographs are a nod to the hand coloured prints of the nineteenth century.

Pictured left: Toby Burrows, The Winter, 2025. Pictured right: Greg Weight, Formations, 2010. Australian Galleries | Greg Weight.

He has a broad sweep of his work on display, from the black and white portraits of significant Australian artists to his inspirational night skies where the stars seem to burn through the photopaper, to his paintographs where he adds his individual markings onto the photograph.

Inspired Doubles in the same booth

Tina FiveAsh and Caterina Pacialeo are one of several inspired doubles in Photo Sydney. It is hard to determine the manner of creation of Tina FiveAsh’s apocalyptic images. Neon signs appear on large buildings and structures offering us an inspired message. The are strikingly different to other works in the Photo section.

Catherine Cloran is an inspired documenter of nature, with a twist. Her photographs are exquisitely pleasurable simply because of the way Cloran constructs the content of the image. Zorica Purlija has a teenage daughter who for years has been her mother’s muse. She also appreciates nature and in these poetic landscapes we can also see the female presence of her daughter in the landscapes.

John Gollings and John Marmaras are also showing a double booth.

Pictured: Caterina Pacialeo, Fire #2 Heart, 2016.

What are some of the most exciting or experimental photographic techniques we’ll see featured in Photo Sydney this year?

Watch out for Sammy Hawker, presented by Photo Access, who is one of three artists in this booth. She is creating inkjet prints from a scanned film negative. ‘Kamberri/Canberra-based artist Sammy Hawker explores the potential of reciprocal engagements between human and more-than-human worlds. Hawker’s multi-disciplinary practice consistently embraces text, photography and moving image. These works form part of a vast and ongoing archive documenting sites and moments of exchange.

Nico Krijno, also presented by Photo Access, is an artist working with video, staged photography, and collage in an experimental photographic practice that investigates contemporary visual codes, archetypes, symbols and patterns, exploring not only these methods of creation but the spaces in-between.

Sandy Barnard is one of Sydney’s finest photo art printers. She will be showing some of her personal works alongside two other artists.

Alexia Sinclair is best known for her intense colour photographs portraying historical and allegorical figures. Her elaborate compositions take on the complexities of history painting by depicting a moment in a narrative story. The abundant detail and symbolism in her work are devices that allow her to tell complex stories. Her pictures combine the elegant finesse of contemporary fashion design with the sumptuous aesthetics of the Golden Age of painting.

George Byrne creates large-scale photographs that depict everyday surfaces and landscapes as painterly abstractions. Borrowing from the clean, vivid clarity of modernist painting, he also references the New Topographics photography movement via a subject matter firmly entrenched in the urban everyday.​

Pictured left: Nico Krijno, The Constellation #9. Photo Access. Pictured right: Alexia Sinclair, The Encounter, 2024.

View more highlights of Photo Sydney here.