The Auto-Photo: A life in Portraits exhibition marks two important milestones: celebrating Alan Adler’s dedication across 50 years servicing photobooths around the Melbourne municipality and 100 years since Siberian emigre Anatol Josepho filed a patent for his ‘Photomaton’, a coin-operated photobooth, in New York City.
The analogue photobooth, while still serving a distinct purpose, has had to compete with the digitisation, mobility and convenience of cameras and now, camera-phones. Yet the coin-operated photobooth practice is still more sacred than ever. The experience of waiting for the countdown, the frantic posing (without being able to adjust your appearance in a front-facing camera), captures perhaps its occupants’ most authentic selves.
Alongside Adler’s own archive of self-portraits (that span 50 years), the exhibition curated by Catlin Langford, will feature additional works by and drawn from the collections of Katherine Griffiths, Mark Holsworth, Kyle Archie Knight, Ruth O’Leary, Nicky Makin, Jesse Marlow, Brian Meacham, Metro Auto Photo, Patrick Pound and Joshua Smith.
Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) director Daniel Boetker-Smith says, “Through daily testing of his booths Alan built a visual story of his life, and that of his family and pets. He also inspired generations of Melburnians, and tourists and visitors to record their own moments and stories.”
Nicky Makin, Photobooth portrait, c.1980s, gelatin silver print with yellow ink, © Nicky Makin
Katherine Griffiths, Photobooth Beginnings, Chadstone, 1974, gelatin silver print © Katherine Griffiths; Katherine Griffiths, Year 12, Chadstone, 30 October 1980, gelatin silver print © Katherine Griffiths
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, gelatin silver prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, gelatin silver prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, c-type prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, gelatin silver prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, c-type prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Photobooth portraits, gelatin silver prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Alan Adler, Travel Photos by Lorraine Adler, c-type prints © Alan Adler/Metro Auto Photo.
Ruth O’Leary, Photobooth strip, c.2010s, gelatin silver print © Ruth O’Leary
Auto-Photo: A life in Portraits is a CCP exhibition, presented in partnership with RMIT Culture, on display at RMIT Gallery.
The accompanying publication, Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits published by Perimeter Editions and Centre for Contemporary Photography, can be purchased from the Art Guide Bookstore. Visit us in store (43–47 Simpson Street, Northcote 3070, open Wednesday – Saturday 9am – 5pm) or online.
Auto-Photo: A life in Portraits
RMIT Gallery
On now—16 August
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