Landmark exhibition in new photography gallery
The State Library of NSW is staging its biggest and most significant photography exhibition to date in its new underground Photography Gallery, now open to the public.
The inaugural exhibition Shot delves into the State Library’s extraordinary collection of two million images and delivers a visual feast of 400 captivating moments – many displayed for the first time – by 200 photographers over three centuries.
According to State Librarian John Vallance: “The new gallery is the largest permanent space in Sydney dedicated to photography, made possible with funding support from the NSW Government and private benefactions. Visitors will be able to see almost every photographic format and every year between 1845 and 2022 represented.”
Located underneath the Library’s historic Mitchell building, the gallery space boasts an innovative transparent design which showcases the images as original objects, starting with an 1845 daguerreotype – Australia’s oldest surviving photograph.
“The images are arranged into decades like a time tunnel, which allows the collection to tell its own story,” says Senior Curator Geoff Barker. “Visitors will see things like fashion, architecture and transport, as well as photographic styles and printing processes, change over time.”
Geoff spent two years trawling through the Library’s extraordinary collection – one of the largest and most diverse in Australia – and made some surprising discoveries. He came across an ordinary looking exercise book and discovered it contained close to 100 rare photographs documenting Australia’s first engagement in World War I. And there’s the book of mugshots (1924–1950s) by Sydney’s first official undercover police officer, Frank Fahy (nicknamed ‘the Shadow’).
Other highlights include:
- A rare example of an ambrotype where the image has been captured outdoors (of a publican out the front of his establishment in northern NSW in 1861);
- Early examples of colour photography (including rare photo-crayotype prints);
- One of the original Paget plates Frank Hurley saved from Shackleton’s sinking ship Endurance in Antarctica in 1915;
- Iconic works by some of our most acclaimed photographers, including Max Dupain, Harold Cazneaux, David Moore and Olive Cotton; and
- Contemporary images and commentary by more than 30 living photographers, including Stephen Dupont, Tony Mott and Anne Zahalka.
Shot is a free exhibition in the State Library’s new Photography Gallery, on show until 20 October 2024.