Photographing with Country Workshop with Peta Clancy

Colonial landscape photographs from Australia were often produced for scientific, topographic, or tourism purposes and reflect aesthetic, possessive, and economic perspectives on land and waterways.

Landscape photographs tend to overlook Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral and cultural connections with Country. For this workshop, participants are invited to bring a printed photograph of Country, landscape, or place to respond to.

For this workshop, participants are invited to bring a printed photograph of Country, landscape, or place to respond to. Participants will consider the agency of Country and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the depicted land.

Discussions will reflect on the multiple time frames, histories, and viewpoints represented in the photographs. Participants will produce a photographic reinterpretation or written response informed by their reflections and positionality in relation to their shared photograph.

Peta Clancy (she/her) is a descendant of the Yorta Yorta people. She lives on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne. Her large-scale photographic installations offer long-term in-depth depictions of Place and explore the agency of Country and relationality. She was awarded an Australia Council Fellowship for Visual Arts in 2022.

Her work has been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. She is the photography coordinator in the Fine Art Department, a researcher in the Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous research lab and Associate Dean – Indigenous at Monash’s Art Design & Architecture Faculty. Peta is represented by Dominik Mersch Gallery.

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November

Canberra: This collection-in-focus display highlights William Yang’s photography of Sydney Mardi Gras festivals between 1981 and 2003.

Brisbane: Until 13 July 2025. Amateur Brisbane photographer Alfred Henrie Elliott (1870-1954) extraordinary images lay dormant for decades until they were discovered only recently. This exhibition is curated by seven Brisbane photographers.

Sydney: The photographs in Max Dupain: Student Life were taken at the University of Sydney in the early 1950s, a period of rapid change marked by the politics of the Cold War.

Sydney: Last weekend to visit Head On Photo Festival!

Sydney: Chrissie Hall specialises in advertising, fashion, portraiture and social documentary. Join Chrissie for her 2nd book launch and exhibition at Lunar Studios in Alexandria on Thursday, November 14th from 6:30-8:30 pm.

Perth: Until 18 May 2025. Henry Roy – Impossible Island draws on 40-years of recollections and observations as it brings together 113 photos taken from 1983 to 2023.

Brisbane: The Photo Fair #2 is a community event to sell, swap, and showcase photographic works on November 30 and December 1, 2024. 10am - 4pm

Melbourne: 30/11– 15/12. Focal/Vocal showcases the photographic talents of 7 graduates who use the medium of photography for the exploration of the human condition.

December

Sydney: 5 December – 1 February. Photofields presents the Southern Sky Astrophotography 2024 exhibition, the 20th edition of the David Malin Awards.

Sydney: 6 & 7 December. Special-edition free tours of Sydney Observatory will explore the site's history of photographic observation.