In Australia, the United States, and around the world, land has been subjected to a series of violent processes – colonial expropriation, division by borders, and the extraction of its resources. Since its invention in the 19th century, photography has provided an important visual record of these processes but is also a product of this history. From its early dependence on the mining and global circulation of minerals like copper and silver, to its role in the resource-hungry spread of digital images today, one could say that the act of photography is constantly taking place. Featuring Peta Clancy, Brett Neilson, Simryn Gill and Amanda Williams, this panel will consider how contemporary Australian artists have responded to this history, how they engage with photography’s troubled relationship to land, place and Country, and how they use photographic technologies and practices to envision different relationships between people and places.
Contemporary Photography/Peta Clancy, Simryn Gill, Brett Neilson and Amanda Williams