Porch Diaries x Letterboxes at Tempo Rubato

Brunswick-based artists and neighbours, photographer Alana Holmberg and cellist Josephine Vains, come together to present Porch Diaries & Letterboxes at Tempo Rubato on Monday 3 May.

Porch Diaries reflects on community as a remedy for isolation. Comprising more than two hundred colour photographs, the heart-warming series features neighbours, strangers, workers and loved ones who passed by the Brunswick home of photographer Alana Holmberg during lockdown.

On the adjacent street, Josephine Vains had the idea of providing cello concerts for her neighbours from the footpath outside her house. The first Letterbox Concert was given at the end of March 2020 and they continued every fortnight through lockdown for neighbours and others who passed by.

Through these two projects that Alana and Josephine met, united by their interest in connecting with their local community through music and photography. For the first time, Alana and Josephine will share excerpts of both projects in a collaborative and multidisciplinary performance that explores what it means to be part of a neighbourhood community.

• Date: Monday 3 May 2021

• Time:

  • 7pm bar open & A1 Bakery Food Truck on site

  • 8pm performance starts

• Tempo Rubato, 34 Breese Street, Brunswick

• Tickets: $22 - Buy tickets now

Profits from ticket sales will be donated to the Porch Diaries project to help fund the production of a self-published book of the series. You can also make a tax-deductible donation to the project via the Australian Cultural Fund, all donations will be matched by Creative Partnerships Australia until 21 April.

Porch Diaries will be exhibited at Counihan Gallery, Brunswick from 29 May-11 July 2021 and a book will be available in June 2021. The exhibition is supported by Moreland Arts through the Flourish Arts Recovery Grant Program and the book is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through Match Lab.

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About Josephine Vains | josephinevains.com

Josephine Vains is an Australian cellist, chamber musician and educator, with a performance career that encompasses modern and historical cello. An adventurous spirit has taken her to some far-flung concert venues, from a 1000-year-old cave in the heart of China to mountain-top Bach in the French Alps. Josephine was recognised in the 2020 Moreland Awards for her series of free Letterbox Concerts during lockdown, winning the Contribution to Arts and Culture Award.

About Alana Holmberg

Alana Holmberg is an Australian photographer based in Melbourne. In 2019 she won Australia's National Photographic Portrait Prize. Raised in regional Victoria, Alana’s work is sociological in nature and increasingly focused close to home. Through her projects, she comments on contemporary issues within Australia, drawing on family archives, personal experiences and observations of her community.

Nominated for World Press Photo 2020 Joop Swart Masterclass

I am amongst 196 nominees for this year’s Joop Swart Masterclass, World Press Photo Foundation’s well known education program held in Amsterdam each year. I’ve had my eye on this masterclass for a long time, but age restrictions prevented me from being nominated. Last year those restrictions were lifted in recognition of the fact that you can still be emerging talent, but over the age of 35! Very cool.

I’m putting my application together now, the final 12 will be announced in the middle of the year. Wonderful to see such a diverse bunch of photographers in the mix from all over the world, including many Australians this year.

Run as a week-long intensive program, the Joop Swart Masterclass identifies, supports and educates new talent in the field of documentary photography, visual journalism, and visual storytelling.

The masterclass is named after Joop Swart, a passionate supporter of photographic talent who played a major role in the foundation's history, first as the photo contest jury chair from 1966 to 1974, and then as a member of the foundation's board from 1970 until his death in 1994.

Launched in 1994, the masterclass has contributed to the development of generations of visual storytellers. Participants have later gone on to lead the masterclass themselves, be awarded in the World Press Photo Contest and have their work published in some of the most prestigious publications around the world.

Selected for 2020 Farside Collective artist residency in Leh, India

Wonderful news to be selected as one of five artists to participate in Farside Collective’s long residency in Leh, India this year. I’ll be heading there for a month in July to make new work and produce an artist book along with photographers, writers, curators and illustrators from Wales, Mexico and India.

The residency is our attempt to bring artists from around the world to this small town in the mountains and create books. Art-books and zines are new to India and we believe it is important to expose people here in Leh locally and India in general to the idea of self-published books. Over both the short & long residencies the artists will work closely with us in a project selected by them manifesting in photographic, literary or illustration based printed matter. Additionally, the long-residency artist offer small workshops for fellow artists and locals in Leh. Upon mutual agreement, Farside Collective will choose books/zines made during both the residencies to be published and distributed in India & abroad.

I’m looking forward to this experience and will post preparations and work in progress here.

More information about the residency here.

Unless You Will Studio - new business launch

Yesterday I launched a new business called Unless You Will Studio, with copilot Heidi Romano. After working together on various clients and projects including LensCulture, Photography Studies College, and World Bank, Heidi and I decided to join forces in an official capacity to offer communications and design solutions for the photography industry. 

Unless You Will is not a new name in photography. Heidi started Unless You Will as a passion project some 10 years ago. First realised as an amazing online photography journal, it went on to inspire a festival and later shape-shifted into a gallery residency and then a weekend conference. I’m proud to be part of the next chapter for Unless You Will and continue the legacy Heidi created over the past decade. Our aim is to be an invigorating and positive force in our community, and we’re excited about new collaborations on the horizon.

• Read more about our services here: https://www.unlessyouwill.com/services

• Our past projects here: https://www.unlessyouwill.com/projects

• More about the Unless You Will journey here: https://www.unlessyouwill.com/about

Looking forward to some exciting new projects in 2020!

btw, I’m still freelancing as a photographer and teaching, UYW part of the bigger hustle :)

Photo credit: Katrin Koenning

Winner, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

It means the world to have such a personal image selected as the winner of the 2019 National Portrait Prize. Below is a short excerpt of my acceptance speech but first, I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the National Portrait Gallery sits: the Ngunnawal people and their elders past, present and emerging. I failed to do so on Friday night so wanted to do so here.

This image is part of a series documenting my family in the months leading up to my nephew’s arrival - the first of the next generation. I think all of us felt that monumental shift, that undeniable progression of time as each of us took on new roles as parents, grandparents and aunts. I photographed that time simply to create a record of a time.

For me personally, this image represents the beginning of an intentional shift away from documenting other places, other cultures and other people to make work that is intrinsically linked to my place in the world and my experiences. I want to challenge myself to make work in an environment where I am not a visitor or an outsider, and where there was an equal power dynamic between photographer and subject. Family seemed like a logical place to start.

I also consider this image a celebration of women’s bodies and motherhood. Greta’s self-love and complete lack of inhibitions when it comes to nakedness has, in equal parts, inspired and challenged those around her for many years. Perhaps this image will do the same, as I consider her attitude alone a revolutionary act.

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Big thanks to the kind and meticulous Peter Hatzipavlis at The Print Shop @ PSC who collaborated with me to make the final print. It was also a pleasure to frame the work with Maurizio at Deans Picture Framers in Thornbury. Thank you also to the RMIT Alumni Residency, a studio space I’ve had access to these past months but haven’t used enough, though it was location for many many dust-spotting hours for this image.

Thank you to the National Portrait Gallery and Canon for the generous support of portraiture in Australia and to the remarkable jury - photographer and visual artist Hoda Ashfar, Senior Curator at National Portrait Gallery, Chris Chapman, and Annie O’Hehir, Curator of Photography at National Gallery of Australia.

The exhibition of all the finalists is now open at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and will travel to several galleries in Australia over the coming year. Power, representation and diversity were key considerations for the jury and I feel the finalists, their subjects and images very much represent this thinking. Go see!

And finally, thank you to Greta for her collaboration, participation and openness throughout this experience. The night before the announcement I asked her how she was feeling about this image being online and she said: “I have zero hesitations or apprehension. I look at this image and I feel so proud of what my body did. I also see my old self and my pregnant self in this image, not engulfed by baby like some of your other images. It shows me I’m still there inside this new role and identity I have taken on.”

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Links:

• Interview with Ed Ayres on The Art Show (ABC RN, 27 February)

• ABC Arts feature

• Art Guide feature

• Canberra Times feature by Karen Hardy

• The Age feature by Karen Hardy

Finalist, National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

Wonderful to round out the year with the news I’m a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, along with a bunch of friends, mentors and one of my students. Check out the full list of 40 finalist here: https://nppp.portrait.gov.au/

I’ve had a quiet year in terms of my personal work, my main focus has been photographing my family for the first time in years. It’s nice to have one of those images, a portrait of my sister, recognised for this award.

Winner will be announced in February at National Portrait Gallery.

Finalist: William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize

The Trustees of the Monash Gallery of Art Foundation and the judging panel – architect, art patron and academic Corbett Lyon, artist and educator Dr Susan Fereday and MGA Senior Curator Stephen Zagala – today announced the 2017 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize finalists.

I'm very proud that one of my images - Portrait of Eylül II, 2016 - from 'Resist Laughter' has been listed amongst the finalists. I'll be taking over the MGA Instagram from Sunday 8 October - tune in via @mga_photography

Opening Night & announcement of the award is Thursday 19 October: https://www.mga.org.au/bowness-prize 

Finalist: Maggie Diaz Prize 2017

An image of mine (bottom left in the selection above) has been selected as one of 49 finalists in this year's Maggie Diaz Photography Prize.

"This prize celebrates the work of long-time Melbourne resident and photographer, Maggie Diaz, a trailblazer for Australian women photographers.  Maggie’s career started when she won a photography prize in Chicago in the 1950s.  By giving her name to this prize Maggie hopes to encourage other women photographers ‘to keep at it!’ "

Check out all the finalists here: http://www.maggiediazprize.com/

Opening Night and announement: Friday 1 September @ Brightspace Gallery, St Kilda. 

Finalist: Organ Vida Photography Festival, Croatia

Thrilled to be named one of 20 finalists who will exhibit at Organ Vida Photography Festival in Croatia, this September. This year's jury including photographers I greatly respect and admire - Katrin Koenning, Pieter Hugo, Cristina de Middel and Dana Lixenberg - so having my Turkey project 'Resist Laughter' recognized from more than 300 applicants is incredibly rewarding. My work will feature in the projection series, meanwhile dear friends Ingvar Kenne and John Feely will exhibit as two of the top ten finalists.  

• Read more about this year's theme 'New Citizen' here.

• Read the announcement here.

Finalist: National Portrait Prize, 2017

I was thrilled to be a finalist this year for the first time with the image above. Check out the essay about this year's finalists by Sarah Engledow, Curator National Portrait Gallery and judge of this year's prize. The gallery also made a lovely virtual learning experience from the show - great to see technology furthering the read of this exhibition. 

Everyday Everywhere Instagram account - Guest Curator

I curated the Everyday Everywhere Instagram account last week. I had a lot of fun trawling the images posted each day with #everydayeverywhere and selecting posts that spoke to me both visually and thematically while representing what Everyday Projects is all about.  

"The Everyday Projects uses photography to challenge stereotypes that distort our understanding of the world. We are creating new generations of storytellers and audiences that recognize the need for multiple perspectives in portraying the cultures that define us. "

A few of my selections can be found below, click through to see photographer's instagram profile. 

Finalist: National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019

An image from Resist Laughter, a series exploring the experiences of young feminists in Turkey, has been selected amongst 50 others as a finalist in this year's National Photographic Portrait Prize. The image has been printed, framed and sent on its way to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra for final judging over the coming weeks. Winner to be announced on Friday 31 March at the opening night. Can't wait to see this image up on the wall and all the other finalists!

Thrilled to join Oculi Collective!

Along with Matthew Abbot and John Feely, I've been accepted into Oculi, a collective of Australian documentary photographers with the collective vision 'to expose, exhibit and promote images of contemporary culture in Australia and the surrounding region'.

“Our new inductees represent perhaps, the single, most significant intake of photographers into the ranks of Oculi this decade. Not only have we identified some of the most promising emerging talent in the land, but have positioned ourselves for the years ahead in remaining a relevant and leading force in the contemporary photo-documentary landscape.” Dean Sewell, Oculi Founding Member.

I've always hoped Oculi would be part of my journey with photography, the collective's photographers have shaped my own work over the past six years through their vision, projects and achievements. They have absolutely set the bar high in this country for incredible poetic visual narratives and I am truly honoured to contribute to its new direction.   

Read more about the announcement and get to know Matt and John's incredible work also - really impressed by these two guys and excited to work alongside them.

More about Oculi:

• www.oculi.com.au

• Oculi on Facebook

• Oculi on Instagram

Winner - The Pool Grant 2016 →

Thrilled to continue working on, and exhibit, my project Resist Laughter about feminists in Turkey with a little help (funding and mentoring) from The Pool Collective via 2016 The Pool Grant. THANK YOU to all the Pool team for supporting independent work by Australian photographers and THANK YOU Jess Scully for picking my application. More info here