Exhibition theme or concept: >What is the theme or concept of the Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award?

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1 Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award Secondary Student Response Sheet - Exhibition Analysis Sheet Students researching the Arts Industry will find it useful to undertake an analysis of the exhibition. This may involve organising a staff member at the gallery to give an introduction that specifically addresses how the exhibition was developed and organised. Students can conduct preliminary research at the Centre for Contemporary Photography website by reading the extended Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award Education Kit. < Details of Exhibition: Name/title of Exhibition: Venue & Location: Dates of Exhibition: Artist(s) Included: Exhibition theme or concept: >What is the theme or concept of the Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award? >How does the name/title of the exhibition relate to the theme or concept? >What type of exhibition is it? (i.e. is it a group exhibition, solo exhibition etc) Is it related to a particular style, theme, subject, idea or medium? >Is it a one-off exhibition, or will the exhibition travel to other venues? Planning the Exhibition >What is the purpose of the Leica exhibition, e.g. to sell work; to explore a particular theme or idea; to showcase recent work by the artists; or to introduce a medium or style of work?

2 >Who was involved developing and organising this exhibition, for example, curator(s), the artist(s), gallery staff? >What types of things were involved in organising this exhibition, for example, researching the idea for the exhibition, selecting work, dealing with artists and/or owners of artworks to organise loans and transportation of artwork, writing funding applications, preparing venues, installing work for exhibition, organising tour details and printed materials etc? >What requirements (technical, resources, etc) do you think the gallery might have had to consider when planning and installing this exhibition? Funding >How has the exhibition been funded? For example: by the artist(s), the venue, government funding or private sponsorship? Is there any printed material in the gallery that gives this information? Exhibition Design and Display and Presentation of works >How have visual elements and design principles been used in the display and presentation of the works in The Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award? Consider the following: The gallery environment, i.e. the layout and design of the gallery spaces, the colour of the walls, the use of lighting, wall texts; The placement of works in relation to each other and the physical features of the venue; The display and presentation of individual works, for example, mounting, framing and the order in which works have been displayed.

3 Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award Secondary Student Response Sheet - suitable for Year 11/VCE and HSC students Young Australian photographer Fiona Morris says I started doing documentary photography because I saw the need to communicate how I pictured my world, where I fitted in. In Australia right now there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed to do with the environment, government and the land. All of this needs to be recorded as part of our history and the younger generation should have a voice in that. 1 >Chose a series from the exhibition that deals with an issue you think needs to be addressed. What do you think the photographer is trying to communicate with this series? >Look at the way the photographer has used light, colour, text, perspective, the camera angle, and devices such as cropping or framing the image. How do these things influence the effect the photograph has? >Look at Donna Bailey s series of photographs Our Place, depicting her children and close friends. What ethical, or emotional issues do you think you might need to consider when photographing your own children? >How might the artists role as mother affect what she includes or leaves out of the photographs? Narelle Autio, One of last year s finalists in the Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award, commented: I love that the Leica exhibition encompasses all genres of photography. It helps break down a lot of barriers and 'rules' about what sort of photography should be hanging in our art galleries. >Are there any photographs in this exhibition that you wouldn t normally expect to see in an art gallery? If so, which ones? >Why might these images not normally be put on exhibition? 1 Sandy Edwards and Virginia Baxter, The photo shop, Photofile 58, December 1999, p.51

4 >Who might make these rules about what photographs should be exhibited? This exhibition will travel to various metropolitan and regional venues in Australia throughout 2003 and For this reason works have been displayed in standard sized frames, enabling them to be packed into crates more easily. Many of the artists gave instructions as to how their works were to be arranged. >Chose a series that has been arranged or displayed in an interesting way. What effect does this have on how you look at and understand this series? >Are the works for sale? What difference might including a price on an artwork make? >Do the colour images in the exhibition differ in appearance and psychological impact from the black and white images? How? >Which do you think are more effective? In your answer give examples of artists work. Documentary photography is deliberately biased: its intention is to influence, move or surprise, not just to inform. And the audience also brings its own bias to the image, combining information and experience to bring it to life. 2 >Chose a series and discuss how these images influence, move or surprise you. >If you were on the selection panel for the Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award who would you choose as this year s winner? >Why? Consider the theme, subject matter, style, and the use of colour and how the images work as a series. 2 Clare Williamson, Difficult Child, (catalogue essay), 2 nd Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Exhibition + Award, CCP/Leica, p. 7.

5 >Make a list of the themes that are addressed by artists in the exhibition. >Are some artists dealing with the same themes or subject matter? Chose two series that deal with similar subject matter and discuss how they relate, or deal in different ways with their subject matter.