Stevie Everton Smith
Cathy Laudenbach
Graham Miller
Gia Mitchell
Lee-Anne Richards
Glenn Sloggett
Doug Spowart
Lyndal Walker
John A. Williams
Anne Zahalka
14/3/2002
New Australiana
24HR Art, Darwin
Lively, up beat and irreverent, New Australiana, a touring show from the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney, explores the popular culture of contemporary Australia. Many of the icons of mass market 'Australiana' remain locked into a mid-twentieth century mythology: the swagman and the surf lifesaver, the Hills Hoist, the barbecue and the battler.
photomedia exhibition
Artists: Stevie Everton Smith WA, Cathy Laudenbach NT Graham Miller WA, Gia
Mitchell QLD, Lee-Anne Richards NSW, Glenn Sloggett VIC, Doug Spowart QLD,
Lyndal Walker VIC, John A. Williams NSW, Anne Zahalka NSW
Lively, up beat and irreverent, New Australiana, a touring show from the
Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney, explores the popular culture of
contemporary Australia. Many of the icons of mass market 'Australiana'
remain locked into a mid-twentieth century mythology: the swagman and the
surf lifesaver, the Hills Hoist, the barbecue and the battler. This
exhibition, curated by Alasdair Foster, throws these stereotypes into the
ring and sheds light on some other' visions of Australiana'.
The exhibition was first conceived as a response to the Centenary of
Federation celebrations where endless images of bearded Founding Fathers'
in Victorian suits were the representative model. This collection of images
promises a very different, largely humorous, decidedly non-PC, view of
Australia. Much more in the vein of Football, meat pies, kangaroos and
Holden Cars' these photographers, present, at times, disturbing visions of a
unique popular culture that is feral, funny, eccentric, full of
testosterone-fuelled larrikins, definitely behaving badly.
Titles of the work give the game away starting with Stevie Everton Smith's
Skimpy Girls and Pissed Turkeys'; Gia Mitchell's Mutton Dressed as Lamb:
The Journey of the Pineapple Princess'; Lee-Anne Richards Serious Yahoos';
Doug Spowart's Surf to live  work to surf'; John A. William's The
Priscilla bus goes to Emmaville' and Anne Zahalka's Leisureland'. The NT
is represented in the show with Cathy Laudenbach's photographs of the
interiors of NT roadhouses on the track between Alice and Darwin.
Drawing on work by documentary photographers from Australia's metropolitan
and regional centres across the country, the exhibition brings us up to
date, reflecting shifting mores, the enrichment of multi-culturalism and the
sheer energy we Australians put into having a good time.
Launch 6.30 pm Friday 15 March
24HR Art - NT Centre for Contemporary Art
GPO Box 28 Darwin NT Australia
+61 8 89815368