2008 past exhibitions
2008
Heritage Collection 2008
- Open:
- 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
Explore the continuously evolving Heritage Collection, presented by the Nelson Meers Foundation.
Supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation
Image: A selection of fine book bindings from the Library's Rare Books collection.
Home Truths
- Open:
- 18 August 2008 – 7 December 2008
- Venue:
- Picture Gallery
Captivating personal stories of ordinary Australians are revealed in this exhibition of photo-interviews by Ruth Maddison, Hayley Hillis and Pippa Wischer.
Image: Loran, 16 & Kiakaha, 16, 9 August 2002, Ruth Maddison, silver gelatin photoprint, PXE 906/2
Wisdom - World premiere launch
- Open:
- 18 October 2008 – 16 November 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
Archbishop Desmond Tutu personally invited 50 of the world’s most inspiring and iconic figures over the age of 65 to share their words of wisdom. The resulting multimedia exhibition, created by award-winning photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman, features extraordinary large-format portraits and filmed interviews.
Three famous Australians - Malcolm Fraser, Jimmy Little and Bryce Courtenay – feature among the likes of Buzz Aldrin, Nelson Mandela, Vanessa Redgrave, Clint Eastwood, Frank Gehry, Willie Nelson, Michael Parkinson, Mary Quant and Tutu himself.
The exhibition coincides with the official launch of a hardcover photographic book of the same name, published in Australia on 1 October 2008 by Hachette Livre (rrp. $75) and available from the Library Shop.
STUDIO: Australian painters photographed by R. Ian Lloyd
- Open:
- 23 June 2008 – 12 October 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
STUDIO is a book, video and exhibition project that has been underway since 2002 and showcases a selection of Australia's most important artists working in their studio environment - the accompanying text reveals how each studio affects and inspires individual creativity.
The exhibition consists of 61 large colour photographic studies of the artists in their studios by National Geographic photographer R Ian Lloyd accompanied with text by John McDonald, art critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and former Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia.
'One of the most compelling aspects of Lloyd's photographs is the great mass of detailed information they contain. This leads to a number of observations about the relationship between artists and their studios. Firstly, we become aware of the way in which the world of colour, light and subject seems to be compressed into a single space, and the continuum between these conditions and the works of art that are produced...'
extract from essay by Andrew Sayers, Director, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
Image: Portia Geach (2006) prize winner Lucy Culliton in her Hartley studio, photograph by R Ian Lloyd
Dockside: Sydney's working harbour, 1840-1875
- Open:
- 5 May 2008 – 10 August 2008
- Venue:
- Picture Gallery
This exhibition will celebrate Sydney's once central, but now declining, role as a commercial harbour. A selection of watercolours, oils and photographs will reveal the animated fabric of Sydney's waterside. Drawn from the Library's collections, works by renowned artists such as Conrad Martens and Frederick Garling will be displayed.
Image: Patent slip belonging to the Australasian Steam Navigation Co., c. 1855, watercolour, Frederick Garling, DGD 3/1
World Press Photo 08
- Open:
- 8 May 2008 – 5 June 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
This exhibition features the award-winning photographs from the 51st annual World Press Photo contest.
The international jury awarded prizes across ten theme categories to 59 photographers, including three Australians: Tim Clayton, Andrew Quilty and Daniel Berehulak. The prestigious World Press Photo of the Year was awarded to British photographer Tim Hetherington for a colour image of an exhausted US soldier resting in a bunker in Afghanistan.
World Press Photo is sponsored worldwide by Canon and TNT. The exhibition has been brought to Sydney by Canon Australia and supported by Getty Images, JC Decaux and TNT.
Image: Land diving, Vanuatu, Tim Clayton, Australia, Sydney Morning Herald, Sports action: First prize stories
Moran Prizes 2008
- Open:
- 10 March 2008 – 4 May 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize was established by the Moran family in 1988 to celebrate Australia's Bicentenary. Initially a biennial competition, the portrait prize is now held annually, making it an even more significant event on Australia's arts calendar as well as the richest portrait prize in the world. It was joined in 2007 by the inaugural Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, a national photographic competition created to promote contemporary photography and excellence in all forms of still photo-based artwork, including all types of analogue and digital photography.
Sponsored by the Moran Health Care Group
Politics & Power: Bligh's Sydney Rebellion 1808
- Open:
- 21 January 2008 – 27 April 2008
- Venue:
- Picture Gallery
On 26 January 1808, William Bligh, fourth governor of New South Wales, was deposed and placed under house arrest. Politics and Power: Bligh’s Sydney Rebellion 1808 presents this story through the original pictures, manuscripts and printed works of the time.
Impact: A changing land
- Open:
- 10 November 2007 – 24 February 2008
- Venue:
- Galleries, Mitchell Wing
This exhibition exposes the controversial history of both harm to and affection for the environment over the past 200 years. The story of human impact on the landscape of New South Wales is told through original sources selected from the Library's collections.
Supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation
Equinity
- Open:
- 8 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
- Venue:
- Picture Gallery
This exhibition celebrates the horse in colonial art and life. It reveals the diverse and significant role of the horse, its status in the colony and the varied approaches taken toward its visual representation by both professional and amateur artists.