Since its inception in the early 19th century, photography as a medium has traipsed a fine line between fact (truth, documentation, recording) and fiction (imagination, manipulation, obscuring). It can both represent and misrepresent, and this is especially true today. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia’s summer exhibition pays homage to the history of photography, while interrogating this relationship between fact and fiction, real and imagined. From international icons of the craft—Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gilbert & George and Nan Goldin—to Australian masters like Max Dupain, Olive Cotton, Mervyn Bishop, Polly Borland and Darren Sylvester, Photography: Real & Imagined explores the multitude of approaches taken in the art of photography. Here’s a taste of what’s on show in this vast exhibition.
Selina Ou, Convenience, 2001, from the Serving you better, series, 2001, type-c photograph, 111.6 x 140.2 cm (image), 126.9 x 156.5 cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds arranged by Loti Smorgon for Contemporary Australian Photography, 2005. © Selina Ou, represented by Sophie Gannon gallery, Melbourne. Photograph: Garry Sommerfeld / NGV.
Michael Cook, Civilised #11, 2012, from the Civilised series, 2012, inkjet print, 100.0 x 87.5 cm (image); 120.0 x 108.0cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Purchased NGV Foundation, 2013. © Courtesy of the artist. Photograph: Predrag Cancar / NGV.
Man Ray, Kiki with African mask, 1926, gelatin silver photograph, 21.1 x 27.6 cm, (image); 22.1 x 28.5 cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased through the art foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Miss Flora Macdonald Anderson and Mrs Ethel Elizabeth Ogilvy Lumsden, Founder benefactors, 1983. © Man Ray Trust / adagp, Paris. Licensed by Copyright Agency, australia Photograph: Helen Oliver-Skuse / NGV.
Henri Cartier Bresson, Juvisy, France, 1938; printed 1990s, gelatin silver photograph 29.1 x 43.9 cm (image). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased NGV Foundation, 2015. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos. Photograph: Nicholas Umek / NGV
Girma Berta, Untitled IV, 2017, from the Moving shadows series, 2017, inkjet print, ed. 4/4, 89.8 x 90 cm (image) 99.8 x 100cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Bowness Family Fund for Photography, 2018. © Girma Berta. Photograph: Predrag Cancar / NGV.
Malala Andrialavidrazana, Figures 1850, various empires, kingdoms, states and republics, 2015 inkjet print 110.0 x 138.5 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Ruth Margaret Frances Houghton Bequest, 2021 © Malala Andrialavidrazana. Courtesy of the artist and Afronova Gallery. Photograph: Christian Markel / NGV.
Photography: Real & Imagined
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (Melbourne VIC)
On now—4 February
This article was originally published in the January/February 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
Suggested Reading
Laure Prouvost meets the real with the ludicrous
French-born/Belgium-based Laure Prouvost animates her first major Australian survey with her hallmark absurdism. ‘Oui Move In You’ is showing now at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
Josephine Mead
Archie Moore wins Golden Lion Award
Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore has won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennale for his monumental work, kith and kin. It marks the first time Australia has won the award in the event’s 130-year history.
Briony Downes
Talking pageantry with Scotty So
Endlessly inventive, the work of Hong Kong-born, Melbourne-based artist Scotty So spans photography, painting, video work, and drag performance. With a dual exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, So talks about pageantry, begonias and queens.
Amelia Wallin
How we remember tomorrow considers the sea as memory
An exhibition at UQ Art Museum centres the relationship between culture, tradition and the ocean, and illuminates how intergenerational storytelling, tied to oceanic themes, might subvert settler-colonial narratives.
Barnaby Smith
It is unexpected and oddly refreshing to see Andy Warhol in a regional Australian art gallery
Until 2026, Wanneroo Regional Art Gallery will be showing 53 original artworks by one of the most famous artists of the 20th century: Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol ICONS includes famous works such as Elvis (1963), Campbell’s Soup Cans (1968) and Marilyn (1967).
Christina Chau
An immersive experience of Leonardo da Vinci
An exact 360º replica of the Mona Lisa and the largest existing collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s unedited drawings and writings. View, in pictures, how THE LUME Melbourne brings the work of Leonardo da Vinci to life.