Travelling Exhibitions

Focus: photography and war 1945-2006

A soldier from 3RAR provides security for East Timorese firefighters. Focus: photography and war 1945 – 2006 provides an overview of the historical and aesthetic richness of the Memorial’s extensive photography collection, through the images and experience of the 15 photographers working during the period 1945 – 2006.

This exhibition concentrates on the work of the very best still photographers, whose work goes beyond the mere recording of evidence and demonstrates a unique capacity to encapsulate both the subtlety and the complexity of an event in a single image.

The technological and industrial expansion of photography, film and mass media, dating from 1945, has had a major impact on the public’s appreciation or war and its consequences, due to the quality and proliferation of imagery from official photographers – Military History Unit, Defence Department and the Memorial – freelance photographers, photojournalists and the private images of soldier photographers.

A blog was developed to introduce Focus: war and photography 1945-2006. The blog does not aim to provide an online version of the exhibition. It is instead intended to present an account of its development, and a forum for a discussion of the broader issues which are raised by the exhibition. Where possible and appropriate, feedback will be moderated and included on the blog.

Focus: photography and war 1945-2006
Gallery City State Start Finish
Gold Coast City Art Gallery Surfers Paradise QLD 18 August 2007 30 September 2007
Latrobe Regional Gallery Morwell VIC 12 October 2007 11 November 2007
Monash Gallery of Art Wheelers Hill, Melbourne VIC 16 November 2007 24 February 2008
Central TAFE Gallery Fremantle WA 06 April 2008 03 May 2008
New England Regional Art Museum Armidale NSW 17 October 2008 23 November 2008
Cowra Regional Art Gallery Cowra NSW 13 December 2008 01 February 2009