Australian Centre for Photography (ACP)
State Library of NSW, Sydney
Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
For this large-scale exhibition, Under the Sun: Reimagining Max Dupain’s Sunbaker, ACP has invited 15 artists to create new works in response to the iconic Sunbaker by revered Australian photographer Max Dupain.
Through a diverse range of immersive and thought-provoking works, the exhibition explores views of our culture, our identity and our nationhood. Reflecting Australia’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith nature, this audacious exhibition enables a creative and often very personal exploration of the question ‘is there something new under the sun?’
The 15 artists not only interrogate the social and political implications embedded within this image but also challenge the status of this photograph in our visual culture. Pushing the boundaries of the photographic medium, their works will expose the aesthetical complexities at play in discussions around collective identity.
Examining the legacy of the past and questioning the relevance that this image might retain in the future, the project draws on a range of diverse practitioners and creative forms to consider questions of representation and cultural pluralism while also reflecting on the depiction of the idealised body, discussing gender issues, cultural and political ideas relating to immigration and colonisation, and our relationship with the land.
The exhibition features new works by Peta Clancy, Christopher Day, Destiny Deacon, Michaela Gleave, Nasim Nasr, Sara Oscar, Julie Rrap, Khaled Sabsabi, Yhonnie Scarce, Christian Thompson, Angela Tiatia, Kawita Vatanajyankur, Daniel Von Sturmer, Justene Williams and William Yang.
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