Title

Black & white: documenting Indigenous Australia.

Collective title

Monash Gallery of Art travelling exhibition

Venues

Monash Gallery Of Art (12 February 2009 – 3 May 2009)

Date

(2009)

Summary

Muli-artist exhibition. Located: Australia. Photographs.

Curator

Zagala, Stephen

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Drawing primarily on material in the Monash Gallery of Art Collection, and featuring work by some of Australia’s best-known photographers, Black & white: documenting Indigenous Australia
examines the representation of Indigenous Australians in blackand-white photography from the nineteenth century through to the present.

Aboriginal people have featured in the photographic history of Australia since the earliest days of the camera. They have also been keen collectors and producers of photography since the
late nineteenth century. And, over recent years, Indigenous photographers have been among the most celebrated figures in contemporary Australian art.

This exhibition includes images produced by Indigenous and non-Indigenous photographers, working in a range of different historical and professional contexts. In a variety of ways, all the
photographers in this exhibition demonstrate an interest in using the camera to document Aboriginal Australia. From the commercial photography of European immigrants in the 1870s, through to the
conceptually driven work of contemporary Aboriginal artists, black-and-white photography provides a vehicle for recording, remembering and re-negotiating cross-cultural relations. [NETS media]