Australian Museum December Photo Exhibitions

November 22, 2007: Next month will see the opening of two new photographic exhibitions at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

The international Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 exhibition opens on 15 December and runs until 16 March, 2008. A highlights of the display is the winning image by UK photographer, Ben Osborne. Titled ‘Elephant Creation,’ it features a large bull elephant kicking and spraying mud in a waterhole. Five Australian photographers have won Highly Commended awards. Wade Hughes won the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife with is image, ‘Passing Fin’. Wesley Cooper, Gary Steer, Elaine Argaet and Damon Smith were the other Australian photographers gaining Highly Commended citations.

Entry to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is free with general Museum entry. After its Australian debut at the Australian Museum, the exhibition will travel to the South Australian Museum from 29 March until 4 May 2008. Dates for other states have still to be confirmed.

‘Face to Face’ is the museum’s second new photographic exhibition. Opening on 22 December, it runs until 27 April and features thirty emotive portraits of primates – gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans – “whose innocence and vulnerability forces us to question our own inhumanity and arrogance in the way we mistreat nature”. The images were captured by photographer, James Mollison, over a period of four years. They were taken in sanctuaries in Africa and Asia. Entry to the exhibition is free with general Museum entry.

For more information visit www.australianmuseum.com.au or phone (02) 9320 6000.