Telling Tales: The Child in Contemporary Photography

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August 1st, 2000 to November 11th, 2001

Curated by Katarina Paseta and Samantha Vawdrey

An exhibition of contemporary photography that explores representations of children and childhood by presenting the work of eleven artists working with this subject as a source for personal, social and cultural investigation. The common photographic experience is located in childhood. As children, we are photographed more than at any other time in our lives. The photographers variously recreate memories of childhood, explore childhood through the family album and found images, or create theatrical tableaux which represent more sinister and haunting views of the displaced and dispossessed. Representations of children are culturally loaded and marked with a symbolic importance that can render them almost as sacred. The child is a symbol of all that is pure, innocent and full of the promise and aspirations invested by contemporary society. While commonly described as “the best years of one’s life”, the memory of childhood is laden with a powerful nostalgia, upon which we project our pain,joy and desire.
Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, 1 August – 9 September 2000
Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 18 November – 10 December 2000
Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, 23 March -29 April 2001
Samstag Museum of Art, South Australia, 7 June – 14 July 2001
Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria, 4 August – 22 September 2001
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 4 October – 11 November 2001

Light writing desire Anne Marsh