In the last couple of months, a series of major solo exhibitions featuring celebrated female photographers have arrived on Australian shores in quick succession. It’s perhaps no coincidence that portraiture sits at the core of these prominent photographic practices, where female photographers explore a breadth of topics ranging from unconventional relationships to social equality.
China-born and New York-based photographer Pixy Liao’s solo show, Experimental Relationship opened at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) on 21 April and runs until 9 July. Liao visited the Melbourne space shortly after taking part in the inaugural Powerhouse Photography program, and was involved in a group show at Sydney’s White Rabbit Gallery.
Liao’s portraits often feature herself and her boyfriend Moro, who is Japanese and five years younger than her. The photographs portray the two in poses that reverse traditional gender roles and highlight interactions that are fun, erotic and against the social norm.
The first Australian survey exhibition of US photographer Catherine Opie also opened in April at Heide Museum of Modern Art, with several weeks left to catch the show before it closes on 9 July.
Catherine Opie: Binding Ties brings together more than 50 key works traversing the artist’s career since the 1990s. Heide first presented Opie’s works in 1994 with the exhibition Persona Cognita and it was the photographer’s first Australian exhibition at the time.
Opie’s portraits feature people of her queer communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, including leather dykes, drag performers and trans men and women. Her works highlight individual autonomy, rather than narrow definitions of identity. Yet Opie’s recent series also exemplify how individuals come together to advocate for environmental sustainability and social equality.
In similar news, the Ballarat International Foto Biennale (26 August to 22 October) announced its headline exhibitions this year, including an Australian premiere of works by New Zealand photographer Yvonne Todd.
Like Liao, Opie and Anne Zahalka (see below), Todd’s practice focuses on portraiture to provoke new and unexpected interpretations. The Stephanie Collection will be on view at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from 12 August as part of this year’s Ballarat International Foto Biennale.
Spotlight on local practices with international scope
Shining a spotlight on more local talent, a major survey of Australian photo-media artist Anne Zahalka, ZAHALKAWORLD – an artist’s archive, has opened at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh).
The exhibition not only taps into Zahalka’s four-decade career – which has garnered international success – but also offers a backstage pass into her creative process.
Zahalka says of the exhibition: ‘Curated around key bodies of work and the archive that supports it, this immersive exhibition will offer a first-hand experience of how I develop artworks, the research and material processes that are involved, and the context the works are made in.’
The centrepiece of ZAHLKAWORLD is a recreation of the artist’s studio, unveiling the inner workings of her vibrant and humorous images, which have a critical undertone around culture, diversity and ecological impact. The exhibition is on view until 10 September.
Meanwhile, the Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) will soon present the first major solo exhibition of Melbourne-based Iranian photographer Hoda Afshar.
Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line features photographs and moving image works from the past decade, including a newly commissioned series of large-scale photographs, In Turn (2023). In Turn depicts Iranian women who live in Australia, but have been closely following the women-led Iranian protests that began in September 2022.
Read: Voices of resistance: Iranian artists using art to amplify calls for freedom
Afshar first began working with photography in the early 2000s, and her lens highlights stories, memories and landscapes, but above all, humanity. In 2018, her potent work Portrait of Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island won the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize and she has exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally.
Hoda Afshar: A Curve is a Broken Line is on view from 2 September 2023 to 21 January 2024 at AGNSW.