The Museum of Australian Photography – behind the scenes

By Tim Levy | 24 August 2024

Following their rebranding in March 2023 from the Monash Gallery of Art to the Museum of Australian Photography, the institution now showcases around 14 photo exhibitions annually across its three gallery spaces and atrium.

Tim Levy talks to Angela Connor, the Museum's Senior Curator, delving into the intricacies of its operations, and what it takes to make it as an art photographer.

TL: So we’re currently sitting having coffee in the only purpose built gallery that Harry Seidler designed. Are there any Seidler quirks to the building?

AC: Well, part of his design are the curves in some of the walls and we have to take these into consideration and how they’ll fit within an exhibition. So in gallery, we usually have a big ‘paste-up’ to fill that wall as it curves.

As a Seidler building, one of the quirks are curved walls and no-one seems to want to invent ‘curved frames’, so paste-ups are usually used. Side note – you can install your own wallpaper prints in your own home. Image TL

TL: So it’s a case of know your space.

AC: That’s right – that’s what a curator does! We have to set up the gallery to suit the exhibition. We work with the photographer to create a more immersive experience and we can do that with print sizes, lighting, the order or pacing of the images, mood, and sometimes the wall colour.

TL: Established semi-famous photographers are a known quantity and easy to find, but how do you unearth new Australian photographic artists to exhibit? Are you just flipping through Instagram or seeing the results of photo competitions at 1am on your phone and going ‘Hey – who is this photographer?’

AC: We actually do – do that. Also, people write to us and say ‘Here’s what I’m doing, here’s a show that I’m in.’ And we circulate that around the curatorial team.

We have weekly exhibition and acquisition meetings where we get together as a team and discuss what is going on – have we seen any new shows, artists or just things that have come through our inbox. We go to a lot of shows and galleries. So we are always seeing new or different content. Then we have artists who we may desire, or that are on a wish-list, but are beyond our budget.

The gallery installation of Murray Fredricks. Image: TL

TL: Does the team usually see eye to eye or have opposing voices and vision, does anyone spit the dummy when it comes to acquiring new work?

AC: Haha, no – we generally see eye to eye and we get on as a team. When it comes to acquiring work, we are very limited by our budget. We do rely on donations from artists, and ‘cultural gifts’.

We can put a dollar value on work and the artist gets a tax deduction. You can see on the wall labels on whether the artwork was donated or cultural gift etc. We’re always appreciative of donations.

We often acquire photographs that will work with an exhibition that we have been planning, and that plan might be to have that exhibition in three years’ time.

TL: How much say do you have in what appears in the gallery and how do you piece together an exhibition?

AC: It depends on the exhibition. I’ve been here 18 months and my first exhibition was Peter Milne. He’s known for his early photos of Nick Cave, Polly Borland and Roland S Howard that he took in the 1970’s.

Angela Connor has been working at MAPh for two years though has previously worked with numerous top Austraian artists. Image: TL

Anouska Phizacklea the director said “Come up with a show for Gallery Three – you’ve got two months.” So it was about looking at the collection. We start off with recently acquired work. The general public usually want to see our recent acquisitions.

We get allocated a sum of money – so we have an acquisitions budget. But then we might go back to the artist and see what they have in their collection which will help the overall exhibition.

TL: Is a lot of the collection online? Can the general public peruse the collection from home?

AC: We have approximately 43% on the MAPh website. I suppose the upgrade will add more when we are auditing the photos. Also we’ll be adding new artwork or recent acquisitions.

TL: You are currently upgrading the collection storage – what does this entail?

AC: All museums have a storage problem. We have a collection of 3,800 photos, some are framed, others in solander boxes. So we’re replacing a racking system and installing a compactor system to triple or storage capacity. It’s a very in-depth process and we’re also auditing our collection at the same time. It’s going to take a long time.

TL: How do you define a museum over a gallery?

AC: A gallery is usually a commercial venture. This museum has support from council, but we also do a lot of fund raising, art auctions and donor programs. We also raise funds through Behind the Lens Dinners, Dark Room Dinners, MAPh membership and of course, the giftshop.

TL: So the Australian people own this work, and that's why you tour some of the exhibitions?

AC: Yes, it's good to get the work out of the solander boxes and share the exhibitions in different regions and galleries. So it's like a package deal where we need to do a facilities report, pack everything in crates, do condition reports, have detailed display specifications, for example if the walls have to be painted a certain colour. We provide them with a layout. So a lot of work goes into it!

Murray Fredricks – Blaze #27 (Courtesy of the artist and ARC ONE Gallery)

TL: Can you give some tips to our readers on how to become a great photographic artist?

AC: You have to tell your own story and share your own vision. Study who has come before you. Get inspiration from others work. Learn the history of contemporary art, as well a bit about history in general. And never give in – continual progression is the key.

TL: I like the saying ‘an idea is worthless without action’. You have to get the ideas, and concepts into the real world. You have to get out there and shoot.

AC: We see that all the time where someone has a concept for a show, but they don’t end up completing it or following through. You’ve got to think about the end result.

Great photographers such as Murray Fredricks that we displayed recently, or Julie Rrap or Ruth Madison, that work is often an accumulation of decades of shooting. A body of work isn’t always a sprint – it’s a marathon.

TL: Thanks for the conversation!

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