The festival ended officially last Saturday, November 20. The screenings this year were incredibly powerful and entertaining, projecting loud and clear that photojournalism is far from dead! The highlights I thought were Craig Golding's 'The Fan', a mutli-media time lapse series with Golding's lens aimed at the rugby league supporters, rather than his renowned images of sport's action. Both Adam Ferguson and Gary Ramage's pictures of the war in Afghanistan were incredibly moving and a stark reminder of the inhumane world we live in and the seemingly endless war there. Ian Flander's presented a haunting and personal vision of prostitution that took you on a roller coaster ride through the dark side of life. This multi media piece left you feeling quite floored and numb. Lisa Wiltse continues to make beautiful poetic pictures with her Mennonites essay. James Brickwood's 'street parties' projection was raw and real with plenty of edge. Nick Moir never ceases to amaze me with his ongoing coverage of storms around the world. These images sing out with strength, mood and color. Ed Giles made a very cutting edge anxious driven piece of film around the West Bank. Mixing photos, video, music, graphics and street sounds he produced something beyond pictures and words, something that ended up within the matrix of your brain. Steven Siewert's project on pidgeon racing was everything great photography should be, the moment and the light. Lastly, the student's work also went into elements of brilliance with Conor Ashleigh and Liz Loh Taylor.
Without a doubt the true highlight of this festival was the 80 large photographs suspended along scaffolding structures throughout the National Art School. The exhibition was curated by myself, Jack Picone, David Dare Parker, Michael Amendolia and Jacqui Vicario and the images were selected as the most important works from the last 10 years of this festival. The collection makes up an iconic series capturing everything from world breaking news events, sports, daily life and social documentary. It is a retrospective that captures some of the most compelling and creative moments by some of Australia and the world's most acclaimed photographers.
A limited edition book of the show was also launched, beautifully printed by Momento. This edition is 200 and available to purchase for $195.00 from Momento.
See multi-media interviews and reviews on the Sydney Morning Herald, News Ltd and ABC Arts.
Review by Andrew Quilty
