The Department of Photography at the NGV was established in 1967. Other state galleries were already collecting photography at that time, but the NGV established the first dedicated department in a major art museum in Australia. The photography collection has grown over the last sixty years to include around 15,000 photographs by artists and photographers from Australia and internationally. Photography exhibitions, based on the collection and from other sources, are a key component of our exhibition programming, reflecting the broad based support and fascination with the medium.

The NGV was founded in 1861 and today has the remit to collect, conserve, develop and promote the state’s works of art and bring art to the people of Victoria. Building on this history, today the NGV is a dynamic, vibrant and essential community asset that contributes to the cultural, educational, social and economic wellbeing of Victoria.

Melbourne has a long history of institutions and organisations exhibiting, collecting, publishing and teaching photography. There are so many venues showing photography in the heart of the city, and further afield, that it is the perfect destination for an event of this scale.

From the outset the relationship between photography and truth has been complex: staged images have been seen as depicting reality, and the ‘truthful’ nature of documentary images have been challenged. In the post-internet era the very notion of ‘truth’ comes into question, ‘Is it fake news?’, ‘Has that image been doctored?’ are questions that are frequently asked. The importance of photography is that it reaches far beyond being mere evidence and expands, and explores, the world of ideas.