Library’s landmark photography exhibition now online
The State Library of NSW is opening its virtual doors to the Library’s biggest and most significant photography exhibition to date with today’s [Tuesday 30 January] online launch of Shot.
The new online version of Shot — the exhibition which opened at the State Library in October 2023 — delves into our extraordinary collection of two million images and delivers a visual feast of 400 captivating moments by 200 photographers over three centuries.
According to State Librarian Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon: “The State Library is now home to Sydney’s largest photography gallery, and if you can’t visit us on Macquarie Street, or indeed you want to find out more post-visit, photography lovers across the globe will now be able to view this extraordinary collection of images in their own time.”
“Almost every photographic format and every year between 1845 and 2022 is represented, starting with Australia’s oldest photograph, an 1845 daguerreotype by George Barron Goodman,” says Dr Butler-Bowdon.
Senior Curator Geoff Barker spent two years trawling through the Library’s extraordinary collection — one of the largest and most diverse in Australia — and came across images that immediately piqued his interest.
This included a striking photo of two female farmers walking through an opium field in Armidale in 1943. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Australia realised it could be cut off from the supply of morphine needed for its hospitals and on the battlefield. Members of the Women’s Agricultural Security Production helped plough and sow this 40-acre plantation.
“The 400 photos are arranged into decades creating a unique visual history of Australia over the last 180 years” says Geoff. “As you scroll through the decades you will see things like fashion, architecture and transport, as well as photographic styles and printing processes, change over time.”