PHOTO 2024 Festival Report

PHOTO Australia respectfully acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which we work and live, and the rich and diverse Indigenous cultures across what is now called Australia.

For over 60,000 years, Indigenous arts and culture have thrived on this sacred land, and we honour Elders and cultural leaders past and present.

This was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.

Exhibited on large lightboxes outside Arts Centre Melbourne, Warakurna Superheroes was developed by Kuku Yalanji artist Tony Albert and David C Collins in collaboration with children from a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory.

Artwork by Moroccan/Belgian artist Mous Lamrabat in Federation Square.

Nan Goldin was celebrated as an Icon of Photography with the largest work in the biennial, a 20 metre long installation towering over Melbourne, curated by PHOTO Australia and presented by Fed Square.

PHOTO Australia

PHOTO Australia was founded in 2018 to champion Australian photography and celebrate Melbourne as a centre of excellence for photography practice, publishing, education and exhibitions.

Through a major photography biennial, PHOTO Australia unites the sector to bring attention to contemporary photography and visual culture, and creates a time to connect with the wider international community.

Taking place every two years, each edition sees artists, photographers, curators and academics responding to one central theme. Museums and galleries curate their own exhibitions, encouraging multiple curatorial and artistic responses to the theme.

PHOTO Australia brings focus and intensity to the program by breaking photographic art out of the gallery and placing it on the streets, in a trail of large-scale outdoor artworks. In addition, a headline events program brings together artists, academics and thought leaders to explore the ideas being presented across the festival.

PHOTO Australia also advocates for Australian artists on the world stage through publishing, and presenting programs overseas in partnership with international photography festivals and galleries.

PHOTO Australia curates and commissions largescale artworks across Melbourne, including this work by photographer Jo Duck for PHOTO 2024.

2024’s trail of 100 exhibitions and outdoor

installations

PHOTO

art

began in Federation Square with the work of Moroccan/Belgian artist Mous Lamrabat.

Artistic Director’s Message

The world has changed immeasurably in recent years and what lies ahead is far from certain. Across PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography (01–24 March 2024), over 150 visionary artists and photographers from across the globe were invited to share their insights of the world as it is today to raise questions about what lies in store for us tomorrow.

Addressing the theme ‘The Future Is Shaped by Those Who Can See It’, our third biennial presented a trail of 100 free exhibitions and outdoor art installations that invited audiences to discover possible and parallel futures, and to explore how current actions are shaping future realities – from AI-generated images and surveillance evasion to climate futures and animal espionage.

We presented our most ambitious program of public art to date. In total, PHOTO 2024 featured 42 outdoor displays at iconic and unexpected locations across Melbourne, ten new commissions by PHOTO Australia, exclusive presentations by international artists, Queer PHOTO – a festival of queer photography presented in collaboration with Midsumma Festival – and striking installations by three Icons of Photography: Nan Goldin, Rennie Ellis and Malick Sidibé.

Forty two museums and galleries curated and delivered their own responses to the festival theme for PHOTO 2024 including Museum of Australian Photography, Centre for Contemporary Photography, State Library Victoria, Arts House and ACMI. Through our connections with international networks, PHOTO Australia brokered exhibitions with celebrated international artists for gallery partners, including Ryan McGinley, Carmen Winant and Edward Burtynsky at Shepparton Art Museum, FUTURES and Museum of Australian Photography respectively.

PHOTO 2024 featured events across four Focus Weekends, including a world-first Ideas Summit

at Fed Square and our largest ever Photobook Weekend at Abbotsford Convent. We also installed our first Festival Hub for PHOTO 2024 to serve as an exhibition, information and meeting point for visitors.

After programming our first two festivals under the shadow of Covid, for the first time we were able to host international artists and curators. It was incredibly rewarding to finally welcome artists and have them participate in person, and to deliver an International Curators Program in Melbourne, connecting leading curators with Australian artists at PHOTO 2024 through studio visits, tours, talks and networking opportunities.

Supporting the sector, PHOTO Australia’s New Photographers program once again mentored and exhibited the best emerging local talent. We partnered with Res Artis to present our first artist-inresidence, and with Photo Collective to present the Australian and New Zealand Photobook Awards.

PHOTO 2024 was experienced by over 310,000 people, making it our most visited festival to date. The scale, reach and artistic integrity of this edition sets a new standard for photography in Australia, and I look forward to building on this success as we plan for PHOTO 2026.

For now, as we reflect on PHOTO 2024, I would like to share my deepest gratitude to all the participating artists who made this festival so special, especially those international artists who travelled so far to attend. I would like to also acknowledge our dedicated staff and board, our advisors and volunteers, and our exhibition partners, sponsors and patrons for sharing our vision and making this all possible.

Elias Redstone Founder/Artistic Director

PHOTO Australia

Lilah Benetti's commission Black and Blur was presented at Footscray Community Arts as part of Queer PHOTO.

Program & Audience

310,000+ 1

Total in-person visitors to exhibitions and events Program 152

Artists commissioned by PHOTO Australia

Audience 2 50% of attendees attended PHOTO for the first time

of attendees would not have visited the area without the festival

Audience Impact 94% agreed “It was well produced and presented”

agreed “I learned something new”

agreed “It had something to say about today's world”

“I loved seeing otherwise forgettable buildings turned into artwork. Buildings I would walk past every day and never take a second look at suddenly gave me reason to stop. Seeing Melbourne turned into an outdoor art gallery felt special!”

of intrastate visitors said it was the main reason for their decision to travel to the area

agreed “It reflected a broad and inclusive range of voices” 89% agreed “It gave me a sense of joy, beauty and wonder”

“It made my daily commutes more exciting and encouraged me to spend more time exploring the city.”

“The outdoor exhibitions… It was terrific just 'coming across ' them.”

PHOTO 2024 was opened with a traditional Smoking Ceremony by Wurundjuri Elder Uncle Bill Nicholson.

Curator Brendan McCleary leading a tour of PHOTO 2024.

Finance

For the first time, PHOTO Australia was able to plan PHOTO 2024 to a two year cycle, unhampered by Covid-19 restrictions.

According to Culture Counts impact analysis of the festival, PHOTO 2024 had an economic impact of $12,312,025 on the Victorian economy. The festival demonstrates a return on investment, with $4.40 returned to the local economy for every $1 spent by PHOTO Australia to deliver PHOTO 2024. The average spend per attendee on shopping, food or beverages while attending PHOTO 2024 was $115.

PHOTO Australia has garnered strong private support for the festival with over a third of its income from Private Giving & Philanthropic Trusts. PHOTO Australia does not receive recurrent government organisational support.

PHOTO Australia’s expenses reflect the key priorities of the festival, to support artists to create work for outdoor installations and the marketing support we provide to over 40 galleries and cultural institutions.

Australia's first AI 'Prompt Battle' was presented by RMIT University with Sebastian Schmieg in partnership with ACMI.

The immersive exhibition Melbourne Out Loud: Life through the lens of Rennie Ellis was presented by State Library Victoria, celebrating a PHOTO 2024 Icon of Photography.

Coverage

299 Items

7.5M+ PR Reach

$9.1M+ PR Value

Channel 10 News First filmed a weather cross featuring PHOTO 2024’s outdoor art trail, set in front of the With Water exhibition in Parliament Gardens, presented by Jayde Cotic.

RUSSH Magazine published a print interview with American photographer Ryan McGinley by Jasmine Pirovic.

Australian Financial Review’s Stephen Todd published an interview with Ryan McGinley discussing his celebrity portraiture and his PHOTO 2024 exhibition YEARBOOK at Shepparton Art Museum.

The Age’s Richard Jinman published an interview with Boris Eldagsen about participating in PHOTO 2024 and his winning and return of the Sony World Photography Award prize.

Wallpaper* published an online article profiling PHOTO 2024 artists after the Program Launch in November 2023.

The Guardian online published a photo gallery featuring work by 11 exhibiting artists in Queer PHOTO, a festival of local and international queer photography presented with Midsumma.

“PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography makes a bold return for its third edition, exploring the future of AI-generated imagery, surveillance, animal espionage, and more.” – Wish Magazine, The Australian

Capture Magazine interviewed Founder/Artistic Director Elias Redstone, and also published a review of their walking tour of the Festival Precincts online.

Frankie Magazine & VAULT Magazine featured an interview and photo essay respectively with artist Jo Duck about her playful large scale photo installation Razzle Dazzle presented at Gordon Reserve next to Victoria’s Parliament House.

ABC Radio National’s Awaye program featured Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch and filmmaker Matthew Thorne’s short film, Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black), as part of Queer PHOTO, presented by Rudi Bremer.

Broadsheet Melbourne published a reel featuring the Metro Auto Photo Black & White Photobooth at the PHOTO 2024 Festival Hub Collingwood. Broadsheet also covered the launch of Queer PHOTO online as part of their highlights of Midsumma Festival, Zoe Croggon’s 20-metre long work in the Melbourne Arts Precinct exhibition, and The Glen Eira City Council Gallery Exhibition The Edge of Elsewhere

International publications Aesthetica Magazine and London's Evening Standard both featured work from artist duo Kaya & Blank’s series Second Nature.

Nikkei Asia’s Cat Woods interviewed Founder/ Artistic Director Elias Redstone in the lead up to the festival, highlighting work by PHOTO 2024 exhibiting artists Tony Albert, Nan Goldin, Mous Lamrabat, Rennie Ellis, Ed Burtynsky, Maree Clarke, Sara Oscar and Kyle Archie Knight.

Wallpaper* and The Art Newspaper covered the announcement of Australia’s first Art Grand Tour, a collaborative initiative uniting three biennials in South East Australia and creating a focused moment for visitation every two years to PHOTO International Festival of Photography Melbourne, Biennale of Sydney, and Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, in partnership with Melbourne Art Fair, MPavilion, NGV and other Australian arts organisations.

“PHOTO 2024 takes the temperature of imagemaking today, leaning into the digital techniques that redefine the traditions of contemporary photography.” – Aesthetica Magazine

“An important event in Australian culture? Without question. The festival has already attracted attention overseas and shows off Melbourne, and Australia, as important centres of photography.” – Capture Magazine

3,708,861

Outdoor Ad Impressions in Metro Melbourne

3,027,978

Total Digital Reach (Digital PR + Website + Social)

Email Website

3,100

eDM Subscribers

27,270 Unique Visitors

140,518 Page Views

20.6K Instagram Followers (+70% Increase)

1.2M Instagram Users Reached

507K Instagram Festival Live Reel Views

FESTIVAL MAPS

Produced for the first time at PHOTO 2024, 20,000 free maps were distributed to local cafes and to over 50 Exhibition Partners and were also available at the Festival Hub, a new addition to the program supported by Milieu.

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

PHOTO 2024’s outdoor advertising leveraged both prominent and niche poster positions around Melbourne’s city and northside, bringing a focused energy to key festival precincts and reflecting the festival’s exploratory experience. 3,708,861 poster impressions were achieved in the lead up to and during the festival.

PARTNER SIGNAGE

Distributed to almost 50 participating program partners and galleries throughout Melbourne & Victoria. Numbered festival signage allowed audiences to identify that the festival was live and to navigate through the 100 exhibitions with the new exhibition numbering system which took prominence in 2024.

PHOTO 2024 took over Fed Square’s iconic Swanston

to celebrate the festival's Opening Weekend.

St Flags

A free Festival Map listed all 100 exhibitions and outdoor art installations.

All PHOTO 2024 exhibitions and outdoor artworks were identified with large numbers from 1 to 100.

Supported by Milieu, the PHOTO 2024 Festival Hub provided information for visitors and a gathering space for artists, with a vintage 1970s photobooth and an exclusive exhibition by Ryan McGinley featuring portraits of local pop star Troye Sivan.

Artists

PHOTO 2024 featured the work of 152 artists and artist collectives.

Adam Ferguson (AU)

Alan Warburton (UK)

Amos Gebhardt (AU)

Amrita Hepi (AU)

Andy Johnson (AU)

Angela Tiatia (Sāmoa/AU)

Anna Carey (AU)

Anne Moffat (AU)

Anne Zahalka (AU)

Arun Vijai Mathavan (IN)

Asafe Ghalib (BR)

Autumn Royal (AU)

Ayman Kaake (LB)

Benjamin Prabowo Sexton (ID/AU)

Bixiao Zhang (CN)

Boris Eldagsen (DE)

CAMP (IN)

Cao Fei (CN)

Carmen Winant (US)

Caroline Garcia (AU)

Cecilia Sordi Campos (BR)

César Dezfuli (ES)

Chloé Milos Azzopardi (FR)

Clare Steele (AU)

Claudia Terstappen (AU/DE)

Clifford Prince King (US)

Corben Mudjandi (Mirarr/AU)

Daniel Jack Lyons (US)

Darren Sylvester (AU)

David Charles Collins (AU)

Debra Phillips (AU)

Derik Lynch (Yankunytjatjara)

Dianna Wells (AU)

Dorcas Tang 邓佳颖 (MY/AU)

Dries Depoorter & Max Pinckers (BE)

Eden Menta (AU)

Edward Burtynsky (CA)

Elisa Jane Carmichael (Ngugi/Quandamooka/AU)

Eliza Hutchison (AU/ZA)

Emily Simek (AU)

Erhan Tırlı (TR/AU)

Estelle Yoon (KR/AU)

Eve Tagny (CA)

FAFSWAG (NZ)

filip custic (ES/HR)

Fiona Amundsen (NZ)

Francesca Pili (IT)

Gareth Phillips (UK)

George Egerton-Warburton (AU)

Giulio Di Sturco (IT)

Grace Wood (AU)

Hedy Ritterman (AU)

Indra Liusuari (ID)

Isabella Capezio (AU)

Isadora Romero (EC)

J Davies (AU/Māori-Takataapui)

J. Rosenbaum (AU)

Jacqueline Felstead (AU)

Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis (Pitta Pitta)

Jaisingh Nageswaran (IN)

Jake Elwes (UK)

James Bugg (AU)

Jana Hartmann (DE)

Janet Laurence (AU)

Jemima Wyman (palawa)

Jill Orr (AU)

Jo Duck (AU)

Jodie Hutchinson (AU)

Jody Haines (palawa)

John Yuyi (TW)

Joseph Blair (AU)

Joy Zhou (AU/CN)

Julie Gough (Trawlwoolway)

Julie Millowick (AU)

Julie Shiels (AU)

Karabo Mooki (ZA)

Karla Dickens (Wiradjuri/IE/DE)

Kate Golding with child artists from Naarm (AU)

Kaya and Blank (TR/DE)

Kenton/Davey (MY/AU)

Kirsty Macafee (AU)

Krithika Sriram (IN)

Kyle Archie Knight (AU/Wiradjuri)

Laresa Kosloff (AU)

LaToya Ruby Frazier (US)

Lauren Dunn (AU)

Leela Schauble (CN/AU)

Leilani Fuimaono (Sāmoa/AU)

Lilah Benetti (AU)

Linda Wachtel (AU)

Lingam.K (MY)

Lisa Tomasetti (AU)

Liu Di (CN)

Luce Nguyê ˜ n-Hunt (VN/Sāmoa/Rarotonga)

M. Palani Kumar (IN)

MacDonaldStrand (UK)

Malick Sidibé (ML)

Maree Clarke (Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/

Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung)

Marta Bogdanska (PL)

Matthew Thorne (AU)

Memo Akten (TR)

Michael Cook (AU)

Michael Najjar (DE)

Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta/Wurundjeri/Wiradjuri)

Mous Lamrabat (MA/BE)

Nan Goldin (US)

Nicholas Mahady (AU)

Nikki Lam (AU/HK)

Noémie Goudal (FR)

Omar Victor Diop (SN)

Paula Mahoney (AU)

Pearce Leal (AU)

Peta Clancy (Bangerang)

Peter Waples-Crowe (Ngarigo)

Ponch Hawkes (AU)

Priya Suresh Kambli (IN/US)

Rahim Fortune (US)

Raquel Ormella (AU)

Rennie Ellis (AU)

Rômy Pacquing

McCoy (PH/AT) Ilocano-Visayan

Rosa Menkman (NL)

Rosemary Laing (AU)

Rozalind Drummond (AU)

Ruth Höflich (DE)

Ryan McGinley (US)

Sadia Marium (BD)

Salote Tawale (FJ/AU)

Sammaneh Pourshafighi (IR/AU)

Sara Oscar (AU)

Sara Wayra (BO)

Sarah Walker (AU)

Scotty So (HK/AU)

Sebastian Schmieg (DE)

Serwah Attafuah (AU) Ashanti/Akan

Sonia Payes (AU)

Stephanie Syjuco (US)

Sunil Gupta (CA/UK)

Tace Stevens (Noongar/Spinifex/AU)

Teva Cosic (AU)

Tim Johnson (AU)

Tony Albert (AU)

Trent Crawford (AU)

Ulrich Wüst (DE)

Vic Bakin (UA)

Virginia Stobart (AU)

wani toaishara (DRC/NZ)

Warsan Mohammed (SO/AU)

Xiao Hui Wang (CN)

Xiao Lu 肖鲁 (CN/AU)

Yarema & Himey (UA)

Yhonnie Scarce (Kokatha/Nukunu)

Ying Ang (AU)

Zoë Croggon (AU)

The work was presented in the festival Parliament Precinct across the Gordon Reserve park and a single 20 metre tall photo on the side of the 99 Spring St building outside Parliament Station.

Activating Melbourne

An inspiring art trail through the city.

Melbourne’s parks, buildings and open spaces became the backdrop for 42 open-air exhibitions and site-specific installations across seven Festival Precincts.

Parliament Gardens hosted With Water, featuring three First Nations female photographers, and the Treasury Building became the backdrop for Uncanny Valley: Photography, Tech and the Hyperreal, an exhibition of six artists exploring the intersection between reality and simulation. Outside St Paul’s Cathedral the exhibition 7 Photographs That Shaped The Future demonstrated photography’s power to change history.

Southbank Promenade and Federation Square were illuminated with work by six artists installed on bespoke lightboxes and, in a new program for PHOTO 2024, PHOTO Australia curated screenings on the Fed Square Screen featuring exclusive Australian presentations by Cao Fei, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Noémie Goudal.

As part of Queer PHOTO, the trail of outdoor artworks extended into Melbourne's western suburbs, including Footscray, Newport and Werribee.

PHOTO Australia presents exhibitions at iconic sites across Melbourne including State Library Victoria.

Amos Gebhardt's new commission for the series In Memory of Stars combined x-rays of native Australian animals killed by human actions with constellations of stars, as a calling to lost futures.

Spanish/Croatian artist filip custic’s exclusive Australian exhibition merged technology and the human body, and included new work made specially for lightboxes installed along Southbank Promenade. Presented in partnership with the City of Melbourne.

Warsan Mohammed Tubea’s installation Becoming celebrates friendship and union between Muslim and Black women, and was presented in partnership with the City of Melbourne.

Artist Commissions

Supporting the creation of work at an urban scale.

PHOTO Australia commissioned 10 ambitious new works by Australian artists for PHOTO 2024. Featured prominently in public spaces across Melbourne and responding to the theme 'The Future Is Shaped by Those Who Can See It', the commissions included Jo Duck’s Razzle Dazzle, a playful series of portraits of people trying to evade facial recognition technology.

Palawa artist Jemima Wyman created vast photocollages from online images of protests and demonstrations around the world, whilst the Parliament of Victoria steps premiered a new commission by Kenton/ Davey capturing the energy, curiosity and dreams that shape the lives of young Victorian adults.

Commissioned in partnership with the City of Melbourne, Angela Tiatia’s Dark Current: Blue Screen presented a series at the intersection of digital and physical space with reference to the artist's Samoan heritage, and Amos Gebhardt created new work featuring x-rays of native Australian animals killed by human actions. Both of these works seek to foreground phenomena not visible to the human eye.

Melbourne artist Jo Duck in front of one of her artworks depicting people trying to evade facial recognition technology to varying degrees of success.

With Water transformed Parliament Gardens with artworks by three First Nations female artists exploring their relationship to water and its cultural significance, including a new commission by Ngugi/ Quandamooka artist Elisa Jane Carmichael.

Palawa artist Jemima Wyman premiered her commission Dissent Atlas created from photographs of protests and demonstrations around the world.

Today/Tomorrow by Kenton/Davey was the third commission by PHOTO Australia in collaboration with Parliament of Victoria.

In Angela Tiatia's new work The Dark Current: Blue screen characters are poised to enter a digital space.

Icons

Honouring the world's most influential artists.

Following Cindy Sherman and Helmut Newton at PHOTO 2022, PHOTO 2024 celebrated three artists who have made a significant impact on the culture of photography: Nan Goldin, Malick Sidibé and Rennie Ellis.

Nan Goldin’s practice addressing sexuality, addiction and mortality transformed the role of photography in contemporary art and was celebrated with the festival's largest artwork, an installation of her film Sirens and a screening of her documentary at ACMI, and the Art Gallery of Ballarat presented the NGA touring exhibition of her seminal series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.

Famous for his studio portraits and images capturing youth culture in post-colonial Mali, Malick Sidibé became the first African and first photographer to win the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. PHOTO Australia celebrated his legacy with his first solo exhibition in Australia, outside State Library Victoria. State Library Victoria presented an exhibition celebrating Melbourne photographer Rennie Ellis, accompanied by PHOTO Australia’s outdoor display Protest, highlighting the important role he played documenting social change.

Large-scale artworks by Malick Sidibé were exhibited on the forecourt of State Library Victoria, adjacent to the Library's exhibition Melbourne Out Loud: Life through the lens of Rennie Ellis

PHOTO 2024 featured the world's largest reproduction of a Nan Goldin artwork to honour the artist's influence on contemporary photography and visual culture, curated by PHOTO Australia and presented by Fed Square.

New Photographers

PHOTO Australia’s catalyst for new talent.

The third edition of New Photographers supported six emerging artists through mentoring, professional development and participation in PHOTO 2024: Teva Cosic, Pearce Leal, Kyle Archie-Knight, Nicholas Mahady, Cecilia Sordi Campos and Erhan Tırlı.

Presented at Daine Singer, the New Photographers exhibition at PHOTO 2024 was curated by Catlin Langford (Curator, Centre for Contemporary Photography) and explored concepts of construction, contrast, community, and the self. Mentoring was provided by acclaimed international artists including Sam Contis, Sunil Gupta and Omar Victor Diop.

New Photographers is an important pathway for emerging artists. Following PHOTO 2022’s New Photographers program, J Davies and Pitta Pitta artist Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis were both invited to present solo exhibitions for PHOTO 2024. Davies also featured in Melbourne Now at NGV and participated in Hong Kong International Photo Festival.

Supported by Naomi Milgrom Foundation

Additional support from Fini Frames, Print Shop @PSC, CANSON

Wiradjuri artist Kyle Archie Knight standing beside their New Photographers presentation: Cruising for a Bruising, a camp love letter to the Australian suburbs.

Brazilian-born artist and RMIT PhD candidate Cecilia Sordi Campos introducing her work at the opening of New Photographers at Daine Singer.

Partner Exhibitions

Uniting 42 museums and galleries for one festival.

Cultural institutions, galleries and artist-run initiatives across Melbourne and Victoria curated and delivered their own exhibitions in response to the festival theme to collectively program PHOTO 2024.

New exhibition partnerships for 2024 include State Library Victoria, Arts House, RMIT Design Hub and MADA Gallery, Monash University. Regional galleries in Shepparton, Castlemaine and Morwell also participated for the first time. Commercial galleries participating for the first time included Sullivan+Strumpf and Neon Parc.

Introductions by PHOTO Australia led to exhibitions by celebrated international artists at PHOTO 2024 partner galleries including Edward Burtynsky at Museum of Australian Photography; Ryan McGinley at Shepparton Art Museum; and Carmen Winant at FUTURES.

of gallery partners agreed that being part of PHOTO 2024 increased attendance at their gallery

of gallery partners agreed that the festival delivered something new and important for Melbourne as a city of photography

Shepparton Art Museum presented the Australian exclusive exhibition of YEARBOOK by cult American photographer

Ryan McGinley.

ACMI presented Distributed Consciousness by Turkish artist Memo Atken, exploring the merging of human and non-human consciousness.

In advance of her participation in the Whitney Biennial, American artist Carmen Winant exhibited Notes on the last safe abortion at FUTURES.

RMIT Design Hub presented the exhibition To See is to Change by Mumbai collective CAMP.

Counihan Gallery presented Future River: When the past flows, a suite of exhibitions by First Nations artists

RMIT Gallery commissioned the new exhibition execute_photography to explore how emerging technologies are shaping the future of photography.

Maree Clarke, Julie Gough, Peta Clancy (work pictured) and Jody Haines.

International Curators Program

Expanding networks for Australian artists.

PHOTO Australia hosted five international curators from France, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom at PHOTO 2024. The initiative was developed to build long term relationships between international institutions and to create opportunities for Australian artists overseas.

The visiting curators participated in a bespoke program including studio visits with 20 Australian artists, viewing the work of over 87 exhibiting artists, and meeting with 20 Australian curators and gallery directors.

Participants included:

• Annabelle Lacour, Musée du Quai Branly-JacquesChirac, Paris

• Clothilde Morette, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris

• Lauren Hadler, KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival, Kyoto

• Dr Léuli Eshrāghi, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal

• Dr Mark Sealy, Autograph, London

A talk with Lauren Hadler from KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival at MPavilion 10, designed by Tadao Ando.

Associate Curator Pippa Milne leads a tour of outdoor artworks in Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Ideas Summit

A world-first global forum for photography.

This major new event for PHOTO 2024 featured 20 Australian and international speakers discussing the future of photography including Ryan McGinley, Sunil Gupta and Sophia, an advanced human-like robot.

Other keynote speakers included Boris Eldagsen on creativity and AI, Carmen Winant on women’s rights, Isadora Romero on Indigenous Seed Guardians, Kirsten Lyttle on Indigenous customary art, Daniel Jack Lyons on queer youth in the Amazon, Serwah Attafuah on avatars and afro-futurism, and Pitta Pitta artist Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis on Indigenous sovereignty in virtual space.

Programmed in response to the ideas being explored by artists across PHOTO 2024, the full-day program featured five sessions: The Age of AI, Photography as Activism, Towards Utopia, Into The Metaverse, and The Kids Are Alright.

Supported by Fed Square and Museum of Australian Photography

German photographer Boris Eldagsen’s keynote exploring the relationship between AI creativity and human creativity, supported by Goethe-Institut.

Ryan McGinley in conversation with Keri Elmsly, ACMI’s Executive Director of Programming.

Photobook Weekend

A global gathering of photographers, artists and publishers.

Taking place for the first time at Abbotsford Convent, PHOTO 2024’s Photobook Weekend was the largest and most successful to date with record audiences and sales.

The Photobook Weekend featured a series of exhibitions and installations by artists including Rahim Fortune, Jana Hartmann, Kate Golding, Ayman Kaake and Sarah Walker; a Photobook Market with stallholders from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Austria, China, Colombia and the UK; and a series of 15 talks, panels and book launches with 30 local and international speakers.

PHOTO Australia partnered with Photo Collective to present the 2024 Australian and New Zealand Photobook Awards, exhibiting the shortlist and announcing the winners at the Photobook Weekend.

Offsite events also took place across Melbourne at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Photography Studies College and other venues.

Co-curated with Matt Dunne, Angus Scott and Rohan Hutchison

PHOTO 2024's Photobook Market took place inside the Magdalen Laundry at Abbotsford Convent, one of the sites activated for the Photobook Weekend.

Anu Kumar, winning the Australian and New Zealand Photobook Award for her book Ghar, published by Melbourne-based Perimeter Editions.

The Photobook Market featured stallholders from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Austria, China, Colombia and the UK. Exclusive photobook exhibitions included

Beauty in Small Things, Australian Women Photographers, and the Australian and New Zealand Photobook Awards.

Queer PHOTO

Special event focus on queer photography.

Presented across both Midsumma and PHOTO 2024 festivals, this one-of-a-kind Festival of Queer Photography featured large-scale outdoor artworks and gallery exhibitions by 17 LGBTQIA+ artists, each in their own way using queer thinking to consider potential scenarios that lie ahead, and how current actions and activisms are creating future realities.

Programmed in partnership with Footscray Community Arts, Trocadero Projects, The Substation, Wyndham Art Gallery and the historic Werribee Mansion, highlights included exclusive Australian exhibitions by Sunil Gupta, Clifford Prince King and Aotearoa collective FAFSWAG, alongside new commissions by local artists including Lilah Benetti, Leilani Fuimoano, and Salote Tawale.

Alongside the artistic program, Queer PHOTO featured 26 events, including artist talks, bus tours, portrait and collage-making workshops, film screenings, cyanotype workshops and more.

Presented by Midsumma and PHOTO Australia in association with Trocadero Projects Supported by Creative Victoria through the Victorian Government’s Go West program

Aotearoa-based collective FAFSWAG presented an outdoor installation at Footscray Community Arts and their largest exhibition in Australia to date at The Substation for Queer PHOTO.

Exhibited on the Maribyrnong River, American artist Daniel Jack Lyon’s series Like A River brings together the stories of queer and Indigenous youth living in the Amazon Rainforest.

Derik Lynch and Matthew Thorne premiered their immersive four channel, autobiographical video work Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black), following Lynch's road trip back to Country for spiritual healing as a queer and Yankunytjatjara man.

Werribee Park was transformed with photographs by London-based Brazilian artist Asafe Ghalib documenting and celebrating queer immigrants who have moved country to freely express their gender and sexual identity.

PHOTO Editions

Publishing emerging Australian artists.

PHOTO Editions is a series of photobooks by emerging Australian artists co-published by PHOTO Australia and Perimeter Editions.

Commissioned for PHOTO 2024, Drinking From The Eye is the third in the PHOTO Editions series and the first photobook by Melbourne-based artists Honey Long and Prue Stent. Often referencing historical representations of the female subject, Long and Stent distort and fragment their bodies in their work, creating creaturely hybrids that are both subversive and surreal.

Edited by Justine Ellis and Dan Rule, and designed by Ziga Testen, Drinking From The Eye takes the form of an abstracted visual diary, presenting a combination of Long and Stent's constructed photographs and detail shots that emphasise the artists’ attention to form, texture and material.

Drinking From The Eye was supported by Jo Horgan and Peter Wetenhall

International Partnerships

Advocating for Australian photography on the world stage.

Strategic partnerships with international festivals and galleries provides exhibition and speaking opportunities for Australian artists. To date these have included a public art installation by Bidjara artist Dr Christian Thompson outside The Photographers' Gallery in London, supported by DFAT as part of the UK/AU Season; a display by Atong Atem at the 2022 CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto; and an exhibition by New Photographers alumni J Davies at Hong Kong International Photo Festival 2023.

In 2024, PHOTO Australia is presenting New Photobooks from Australia at the Victoria and Albert Museum, comprising a display of publications by 16 Australian women and non-binary photographers in the V&A's new Photography Centre. This is accompanied by a symposium at the V&A celebrating artists from Australia.

Supported by Bowness Family Foundation

Christian Thompson AO, Being Human Human Being, presented as the inaugural exhibition for the Soho Photography Quarter with the Photographer’s Gallery, London.

J Davies' exhibition Home From Home – their first overseas – was presented at the 2023 Hong Kong International Photo Festival.

Past Festivals

Building a new vision for photography in Australia.

Originally conceived as PHOTO 2020, PHOTO 2021 presented a new photography biennial of scale and significance across Melbourne and regional cities. 160 artists from 25 countries responded to the theme ‘The Truth’, investigating the veracity of the photographic image in a time of social media, fake news, and artificial intelligence. PHOTO Australia presented new commissions by artists such as Hoda Afshar and James Tylor, and outdoor installations by Zanele Muholi, Maree Clarke, Brook Andrew, Daniel Shea and Sam Contis.

PHOTO 2022 invited artists to explore one epic theme: ‘Being Human’. Encompassing diverse lived experiences, First Nations cultures, queer stories and digital identities, 130 artists and photographers interrogated what it means to be human today, with new commissions and exhibitions by Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Gillian Wearing, Mohamed Bourouissa, Atong Atem, Christian Thompson, Poulomi Basu, Anu Kumar and Vasantha Yogananthan.

The first two festivals combined were viewed by over 280,000 people.

Atong Atem's PHOTO 2022 commission Surat was exhibited at the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Fed Square was transformed for PHOTO 2021 with the Inside Out Project by French artist JR, featuring over 300 portraits submitted by Victorian residents.

Team

Team

Founder/Artistic Director

Elias Redstone

Executive Director

Clare McKenzie

Curator

Brendan McCleary

Associate Curator

Pippa Milne

International Partnerships Manager

Jessica O’Brien

Communications & Marketing Manager

Sean Barrett

Marketing Coordinator

Jennifer Ma

Administrator

Sabina McKenna

Events Producer

Briony Bennett

Events Assistant

Vanessa Aloia

Design

U-P

Publicity

AMPR

Bookkeeper

Renee Hoy

Interns

Tom Craft

Chloe Guymer

Marshall Wilson

Selena Wenen Xiao

Board

Mark Henry (Chair)

Bill Bowness AO

Penny Miles

Naomi Milgrom AC

Elias Redstone

Melinda Rich

Risk and Audit Subcommittee

Melinda Rich

Fiona Bourdot-Clayton

Curatorial Advisors

Mariama Attah

Daniel Boetker-Smith

Léuli Eshrāghi

Lucy Gallun

Clare Grafik

Varun Gupta

Shaune Lakin

Alona Pardo

Isobel Parker Philip

Sophia Sambono

Susan Van Wyk

Volunteers

Tyana Arhondis

Mya Aronfeld

Victor Augusto

Tokiko Bansho

Pippa Bond

Cathy Chan

Ssu-hua Chen

Dominic Cheng

Maxine Chng

Gillian Coleman

Alana De Burgh-Britton

Licia Di Mario

Ignacia Díaz

Salomé Dratwa

Alysha Folkes

Ash Giblin

Vladimir Grudinin

Charlotte Guilmard

Ashwin Gunawardana

Jason Hendriks

Deborah Hilton

Patrick Ibsen

Steph Irvine

Annagenia Jacob

Jo Lastro

Meghan Lawson

Zijing Lei

Georgina Loughnan

Clem McNabb

Sarah Morris

Paulo Dimas Nascimento

Ros Pach

Hing Fung Pang

Nichakan Promjinda

Lola Rae

Mischa Robertson

Jenny Roderick

Sydney Scott

Angela Shi Shi

Fros Stabologlou

Greta Stoutjesdijk

Christian Theodosiou

Phuong To Anonh Vongprachanh

Gabriela Williams

Lai Ling Saskia Yeung

Chao Zhang

Leah Zou

PHOTO 2024 team members from left: Vanessa Aloia, Pippa Milne, Brendan McCleary, Briony Bennett, Elias Redstone, Clare McKenzie, Jessica O’Brien, Jennifer Ma and Sean Barrett.

Patrons

PHOTO 2024 was only made possible through the generous support of PHOTO Australia's donors.

Founding Patrons

Bill Bowness AO

Mark Henry

Naomi Milgrom AC

Heroes

Jo Horgan and Peter Wetenhall

Visionaries

Helen and Michael Gannon

Bruce Parncutt AO

Michael and Emily Tong

Champions

John Anselmi

Morena Buffon and Santo Cilauro

The Calvert-Jones Foundation

Peter Jopling AM KC

Benefactors

Milton and Penny Harris

Ricci Swart

Pollyanna Whitman

Contemporaries

Ying Ang

Atong Atem

Alicia Linley

Honey Long

Prue Stent

Jen Zielinska and Alexis Kalagas

Palawa artist Jemima Wyman speaking to PHOTO Australia patrons and guests at Sullivan+Strumpf.

Curator-led tour of PHOTO 2024.

PHOTO 2024 is produced by PHOTO Australia in collaboration with cultural, education, industry, corporate, philanthropic and government partners.

Image Credits

All photography Will Hamilton-Coates, courtesy PHOTO Australia, in addition to p10-11 Will Neill; p17 (top) Suzanne Phoenix; p21 (top and bottom) Will Neill; p41 (top) Shepparton Art Museum; p41 (bottom) Phoebe Powell, courtesy ACMI; p43 (bottom) Audrey Merton, courtesy RMIT; p57 (top and bottom) Perimeter; p59 (top) Luke Hayes, courtesy The Photographers' Gallery; p59 (bottom) Hong Kong International Photo Festival; p61 (top) J Forsyth, courtesy PHOTO Australia. Front cover: Mous Lamrabat, Mashallah with extra cheese, 2021, courtesy Loft Art Gallery.

COLLINGWOOD YARDS

Neon Parc

PHOTO 2026

Coming soon

“PHOTO 2024 is transforming the streets of Victoria into vibrant, free art galleries for everyone to enjoy the work of world-leading photographic artists. We’re proud to back this festival, the largest of its kind in Australia, making art more accessible with a busy program of tours, talks, film screenings and workshops.”

The Hon.

Colin

Brooks MP Minister for Creative Industries

“This is Melbourne’s moment to come together and celebrate the magic of photography; an art that helps us all connect as we set our sights on a shared future. The impressive scale of PHOTO 2024 bolsters our city’s status as an international arts capital and elevates the unique vision of Melburnian artists alongside the world’s best.”

Sally Capp Lord Mayor, City of Melbourne