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Robert McFarlane Received Moments Photography 1961 – 2009

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Gallery 2 February 5 - March 20, 2011
Born in Adelaide in 1942, Robert McFarlane is one of Australia’s most prolific photo journalists, whose archive of images reveal an instinct for reportage without ever gravitating towards the hard news and frontline dramas. As Gael Newton, Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australian describes he tends to focus on the dignity and integrity of an individual. …in his universe all subjects are equal; whether a child, a celebrity actor activist or beautiful woman. 
 
Rather than using the common description of photography as a ‘captured’ moment,  McFarlane comments that ‘I see making pictures as a receiving of the image – where you stand both physically and emotionally decrees the kind of picture you, through your camera, will 'receive'.
 
The exhibition features 90 images that begin with his early works in Adelaide of the late 1950s and early 60s showing the emerging youth music scene and the influence of the new style of photo journalism as seen in the great picture magazines of the era - Life,Look and Esquire as well as the gritty photo realism of swiss photographer Robert Frank.
 
After moving to Sydney in 1963, McFarlane began to develop his lifelong interest in documenting performance in film and theatre. He also made a number of important suites of images on political life – following indigenous activist and then law student Charles Perkins in 1964 and also Labour politics of the 70s and 80s.