Photo Exhibitions at the Art Gallery of NSW

February 14, 2008: Two free exhibitions of photography are on display at the Art Gallery of NSW this month.

Charles Bayliss: Landscape Photographer, which opened on 9 February, presents two substantial portfolios of pictures documenting aspects of pastoral life and landscape along the Darling River and Riverina districts in the late 1880s. Bayliss used a Mammoth plate camera, which recorded extra-large glass negatives (up to 30 x 40 inches in size). Photographers who used these cameras worked under difficult conditions, travelling with portable darkrooms, supplies of chemicals ill adapted to variable weather conditions and fragile glass plates. Despite these drawbacks, they produced many memorable images that preserve a valuable record of the past. This exhibition will be on display until 25 May.

Michael Riley: sights unseen opens on 22 February and presents one of the most significant exhibitions of Indigenous art. This major retrospective of one of the country’s leading Indigenous contemporary artists was first shown at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra in late 2006. The exhibition chronicles a period of intense cultural development and achievement and presents many images previously unseen in the public domain. It will be on display until 27 April. For more information, visit www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au.