Current Exhibitions
Siegfried Manietta 'Survey Exhibition: 40 Years of Photography'
My personal discovery of photography dates back to 1964 when I witnessed the spectacular apparition of comet Ikea-Seki.
The intense desire to make a permanent record precipitated a lifetime devoted to photography: initially making film adaptors for telescopes, building a spectrograph and finally owning a camera. Working in a colour printing laboratory in Germany during the late 60’s set the stage for my life-long romance with colour photography and later opened doors to the teaching profession in Australia.
Ten years of self-employment provided opportunities for self-education. In common with photographers of the time, I set myself learning projects; understanding the fundamentals of the medium through cross-processing, sabattier effects, tone drop-out, in-solution colour coupling and “discovering” the centrality of design: knowledge that would later permeate and flavour my teaching.
Photographing the Australian environment has three origins: the need to maintain a non-commercial professional practice while teaching; my childhood migrant experiences, and a growing need for solitude away from the pressures of teaching and administration. The landscape paintings of Fred Williams and the scientifically researched and informed landscape photographs of Reg and Maggie Morrison represent the major influences in my work.
I was privileged to gain first-hand experience of another culture while helping to establish a contemporary photography department at the Central Academy of Fine arts in Beijing between 1996 and 2000. Under the auspices of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, I was able to photograph people and places that have undergone unimaginable change over the last ten years. Due to recent social and political unrest some locations are now inaccessible to foreigners.
With the exception of some recent diversions my work since 2000 has centered on the Australian landscape and environmental issues. This body of work can be divided into three broad categories based upon aesthetics, geographical and environmental/political content. This is documented in my accompanying book: The Australian Environment: Landscape as Art and Inspiration.
Siegfried Manietta
