The State Library of NSW is opening two new photographic exhibitions this week that will interest a wide range of people, including non-photographers.
Children with Chinese New Year dragon masks and their father, Auburn, 1998, photograph by Paul Blackmore, courtesy of the State Library of NSW.
The Next Door display, featuring photographs by Paul Blackmore, is being presented as part of History Week, with the 2016 theme being ‘Neighbours’. Featuring 20 evocative black & white images from the Library’s collection, it provides a ‘neighbourly’ peek into Sydney’s suburban lives from the 1990s. It opens today and runs until 27 November, 2016. In conjunction with the display, a curator tour will be held on Saturday 8 October, from 2″3pm, with photographer Paul Blackmore and curator Anna Corkhill discussing NextDoor and the importance of documentary photography.
The second exhibition, Planting Dreams: Grand Garden Designs, presents views of some of the most magnificent contemporary gardens in NSW captured by Australia’s leading garden photographers, including Jason Busch, Sue Stubbs, Murray Fredericks and Nicholas Watt. It showcases more than 70 images depicting grand, innovative private gardens and public landscapes, created since the 1980s and highlights recent trends including the beautiful use of meadow planting, the Japanese art of cloud pruning, innovative use of sculpture, mass planting of Australian natives, and the concept of borrowed landscapes. The exhibition opens on 3 September and runs until 15 January, 2017.
Entry to both exhibitions is free. For more information, visit http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/.
