In For Life - The Life Members Show
HUW DAVIES GALLERY 15 October–1 November
In for life is the second exhibition presented as part of the PhotoAccess 25th Anniversary program. The first, HIY 2009, gave today’s PhotoAccess members an opportunity to participate in the anniversary celebration. And they did so with great enthusiasm: 60 members entered 170 works in what was our largest ever exhibition.
Like all community organisations we have lived through good times and difficult times. The place PhotoAccess occupies in the Canberra community is unique because it straddles the contradictory divide between excellence and access, as it has done consistently for 25 years. In that time the environment PhotoAccess operates in has changed dramatically and the organisation has had to change with it. Yet, somehow, we have never strayed much from the vision of the founders.
The distinguishing characteristic of PhotoAccess is the ‘access’. It is what makes us unique. As a core objective, we provide access to everyone, including the young, the aged, Indigenous groups and disadvantaged groups and individuals. What I like most is that we provide opportunities in the continuum from the individual holding his or her first camera to the emerging artist holding his or her first solo exhibition. We provide many other opportunities, but the basic idea that one can learn how to use a camera and some time later (usually after several years of development) have a solo exhibition is at the heart of our organisation. We help to build creative lives.
In 1984 when PhotoAccess began as a collective with social activist roots, Australia had been through 20 years of profound social change. But from 1984 to the present the change has been much more broadly societal and rapid or accelerating. 1984 was also roughly the year when the personal computer became widely used and mildly useful. Now we have the Internet. Our 25th Anniversary signals the early beginning of the digital age. We have had a few practice years. Cameras and software have improved to the point where they can arguably offer more than previous technologies. Film has also disappeared from common use although there are, and thankfully always will be, enthusiasts who continue to experiment with older and alternative techniques of photography.
My point is that we have just begun with digital photomedia and I suggest that its influence will permeate and modify art and society to an extent at least equivalent to the invention of photography and the later development of moving images in the 19th century. I would very much like a sneak preview of what a Chair of PhotoAccess might write on our 50th Anniversary.
Many people have been responsible for guiding PhotoAccess through the years. We have adopted a new constitution recently and this anniversary is a good time to acknowledge our life members. In for life celebrates their contribution to PhotoAccess and the important role it has in the Canberra community.
Tony Stewart
Chair PhotoAccess
Catalogue
