Featuring the works from the Queensland Centre for Photography and Daryl Hewson Collections; Paul Adair, Priscilla Bracks, Camilla Birkeland, Renata Buziak, Ray Cook, Nathan Corum, Kim Demuth, Marian Drew, Joachim Froese, Sharon Green, Annie Hogan, Imogen MacDonald, Siegfried Manietta, Hugh Swingler Manning, Deb Mansfield, Robert Mercer, Virginia Miller, Peter Milne, Tracey Moffatt, Paul Mumme, Glen O'Malley, Maurice Ortega, Lyndal Petzke, Scott Redford, Bruce Reynolds, Francesca Rosa, Martin Smith, Doug Spowart & Victoria Cooper, Julie Stephenson, Anika Wilkins and William Yang.

The success of Queensland’s contemporary photography in the national arts scene can be attributed to a diversity of factors; some of them are related to developments in the educational system, changes in government support, the efforts of artist-run galleries and the growing platform of artists, mid-sized institutions, council and regional galleries.

In the education sector, the key developments in the last three decades have seen a shift from a technical based education of photography to a conceptual focus characterised by the inclusion of the medium under the fine arts curricula in major national universities. In the case of Queensland’s universities, the inclusion in the late 1980s of lecturers such as Marian Drew and Jay Younger at Griffith University and Dr Victoria Garnons-Williams at Queensland University of Technology. This shift intensified in the late 1990s with the introduction of postgraduate degrees by both universities. In the last decade the continued efforts of Griffith University, which has included the opening of its new state of the art facilities in South Bank, and the production of the internationally renowned Australian Photojournalist (in commercial production since 2000 and headed by David Lloyd), has positioned them as arguably the best school for studies in photo-media in Australia.

Changes in state funding from the mid-nineties, particularly from 1998 to 2004 under the leadership of Mr. Matt Foley who as Minister of the Arts opened the Judith Wright Centre (2001), provided new, state-of-the-art facilities for a diverse group of arts institutions, including a new home for the Institute of Modern Art. In 1998, with the assistance of the then director of Artworkers Alliance Lindy Johnson, legislation was passed to use 2% of major capital works for art projects as an integral part of new government buildings and infrastructure projects. This resulting artistic outcomes not only changed the architectural landscape of the state, but provided Queensland and its population with one of the most lasting cultural legacies of its own artistic talent, and became the vehicle for the national success of many Queensland artists. Some of the many changes during this period resulted in a doubling of the budget to the Regional Arts Development Fund, and the creation of the Heritage Trails Network (funded by State and Federal governments from 2001 to 2003). The Labor Government’s expansion of cultural policies to regional areas opened new venues that were quick to absorb Queensland-made art for an audience hungry for content that spoke to them about their own experiences.

It is fair to say that outside of these efforts and the provision of individual artists’ grants by the State Government through Arts Queensland, the development and support of local photo-media practitioners after they finished university fell largely to artist-run spaces and medium-sized institutions and their curators.

Of the artist-run spaces, the three most relevant to photography during the last three decades were Imagery Gallery opened by Doug and Ruby Spowart, who held 205 exhibitions between 1980 and the gallery’s closure in 1995. With personal backgrounds in the amateur camera movement, their exhibition policies were supportive of a wide variety of practices; they ran workshops and tours to fund their operations.

The second space that operated concurrently with Imagery Gallery and had a similar commitment to photography, and to local creative communities, was the Photographer’s Gallery founded in 1980 by Ray Cook and John Hawker. The gallery favored experimental and hybrid practices that included what was at the time in Brisbane highly avant-garde installations. The gallery operated as a hire space, however the gallery was mostly subsidised by Ray and John. The gallery sadly shut its doors in 1993.

The third artist-run space that became synonymous with the late 1990s was Soapbox Gallery, first established by Franz Ehmann and Charles Robb in 1997 and from 1999 directed by Mr. Ehmann. It soon became the most important local artist-run space of its time, with dynamic exhibition and publication programs it held a staggering number of solo and curated exhibitions until its closure in 2005.

The legacy of the efforts by these entrepreneurial artists lives on in the cultural memory of the state, and constitutes the most important precedent for the creation of the Queensland Centre for Photography.

Of the medium-sized institutions it is important to note the role of the Institute of Modern Art particularly from 1994 to 2004 under the leadership Director Michael Snelling and Deputy Director David Broker. During this period they radically increased the representation of local artists in their shows, initiating exhibitions such as Fresh Cuts in 1997 that annually showcased the best emerging art in Queensland. In the same year with the support of Arts Queensland they commenced the first comprehensive publication program of monographs for local artists, setting the stage for the unique support that state-based practitioners receive for publications from the Queensland Government.

During this time other institutions and curators such as Gordon Craig formerly at the QUT Art Museum (now at UQ Art Museum), Simon Wright at the Queensland College of Art Gallery (Griffith University), Frank McBride during his tenure at the Brisbane City Gallery (later to become the Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Council), Nick Mitzevitch the current director and Ross Searle the former director of the University of Queensland Art Museum made an indelible contribution to the growth of the medium. They have facilitated exhibitions, publications, collected artworks for their institutional holdings, and with the distinctive contribution of council and regional galleries, have lead the way in providing quality local art for local audiences.

Of the regional galleries it is important to mention the role of Annette Turner, the former Director of the Logan Art Gallery who championed the work of documentary photographers, and the curators at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery in establishing one of the first national photographic prizes, the prestigious Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award.

Queensland has contributed a large pool of talent to the national arts scene with practitioners such as Tracey Moffat, William Yang, Rosemary Lang and Rose Farrell, and while mid-sized institutions and artist-run spaces have increased the viability of local arts, by 2004 much of the artistic talent continued to migrate to the southern states to develop their practices and source professional opportunities. This loss of cultural knowledge into the early years of the new millennium damaged the burgeoning efforts of local universities, and diminished the capacity of cultural renewal and the acquisition and transfer of knowledge to new generations.

In an effort to address these issues in 2004 the Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP) was created by a group of artists that included Maurice Ortega, Camilla Birkeland, Ray Cook, Marian Drew, Sharon Green, Andrea Higgins, Shane Gaston and Jenny Carter-White. As an artist-run organisation, its focus was to create an international platform to promote Queensland photographers and increase their medium and long-term viability. This international focus became the key goal of the institution’s strategy, and to this end new partnerships with the Queensland Government, Griffith University and many of the other institutions mentioned above were created. With a diversity of programs that include exhibitions, publications and the annual participation in the International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition the QCP has become a national leader in its strategic support of photo media artists.

Soon after the creation of the QCP, Dr Daryl Hewson joined the community’s efforts by creating what is now the largest and most comprehensive collection of contemporary Queensland photography in Australia. His support and encouragement have been crucial in the development of the medium: in lieu of a policy focused on collecting only prestigious or valuable works by established artists, his collection also features mid-career and emerging practitioners. This approach of personally encouraging artistic development has created an archive that is not only a picture of the individual artists but also a social history of the medium.

This exhibition from the collections of Daryl Hewson and the QCP, appropriately titled Synchronicity, embodies the diverse personal, artistic and institutional accomplishments that have placed Queensland photography as national leaders in the fastest growing area of the contemporary arts.

It is our great hope that you enjoy this exhibition.

Maurice Ortega
Director, Queensland Centre for Photography