International
PHOTO Australia presents Australian photography overseas through strategic partnerships with international photography festivals, galleries and cultural organisations.
PHOTO Australia's international programs have been facilitated through the support of the Bowness Family Foundation since 2023.
The Rencontres d’Arles, France
Image: Tony Albert, David C Collins and Kieran Lawson, Warakurna Superheroes #1, 2017.
PHOTO Australia announces a landmark partnership with the Rencontres d’Arles, the world’s most prestigious and longest running photography festival. Marking a significant development in Australia’s international artistic profile, the exhibition On Country: Photography from Australia will be presented in France, from 7 July to 5 October 2025.
Highlighting the depth and diversity of photographic practice in Australia to a new international audience, the exhibition will feature over two hundred photographic works by established and emerging artists that bear witness to both the visible and invisible aspects of being ‘on Country.’
Exhibition coproduced by the Rencontres d’Arles and PHOTO Australia. Supported by the Australian Government through the International Cultural Diplomacy Arts Fund and the Bowness Family Foundation. Additional support provided by the Australian Embassy, France.
Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
'New Photobooks from Australia', V&A Photography Centre
Atong Atem speaking at V&A Museum, with Zoe Croggon and V&A curator Catherine Troiano. Photo: Mathushaa Sagthidas.
Naomi Hobson (Kaantja/Umpila) speaking at V&A Museum. Photo: Mathushaa Sagthidas.
In 2024 PHOTO Australia presented a six-month display of artist books in partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Exhibited in their new Photography Centre, New Photobooks from Australia celebrated a new wave of women photographers reaching new audiences through publishing. Demonstrating the breadth of artistic practice in Australia, the display encompassed queer perspectives, reflections on parenthood, and experiences of migration from important and emerging women photographers. The exhibition was accompanied by a symposium at the V&A featuring six artists from Australia in conversation with the institution’s curators of photography.
Supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program and the Bowness Family Foundation. Additional support provided by Jo Horgan and Peter Wetenhall.
The Photographers’ Gallery, UK
Image: Christian Thompson, Being Human Human Being, 2022. Photo: Luke Hayes
Image: Christian Thompson, Being Human Human Being, 2022. Photo: Luke Hayes
In 2022 PHOTO Australia presented a solo exhibition of artist Christian Thompson AO (Bidjara) in partnership with The Photographers’ Gallery in London. The exhibition was the first to be featured in The Soho Photography Quarter, a new cultural space in London focused on presenting large-scale, public realm artworks. The five-month long exhibition Being Human Human Being was an ambitious site-specific installation of Thompson’s works, including a large-scale art frieze, cross-street banners, a soundscape and projections. The exhibition included the international premiere of a new work commissioned by PHOTO Australia.
Support for this partnership was provided by the Australian Government as part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22.
CONTACT Photography Festival, Canada
Image: Atong Atem, Surat, 2022. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Image: Atong Atem, Surat, 2022. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Image: Atong Atem, Surat, 2022. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
PHOTO Australia has delivered a reciprocal public art partnership with CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto since 2022.
In 2022 Atong Atem’s PHOTO Australia commission Surat was simultaneously exhibited in Melbourne at PHOTO 2022 and in Toronto as part of the Canadian festival’s 27th edition. PHOTO 2022 also saw the work of Canadian First Nations artist Dana Claxton. The partnership continued with PHOTO Australia exhibiting the work of Tiohtià:ke/Montreal-based artist Eve Tagny in Melbourne during PHOTO 2024.
The next stage will feature the artwork of Australian based artist at CONTACT Photography Festival’s 29th edition in May 2025.
Support for this partnership has been provided by the Consulate General of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts and PATTISON Outdoor Advertising.
Hong Kong International Photography Festival
J Davies, Home (Away from Home), Hong Kong International Photo Festival, 2023
J Davies, Home (Away from Home), Hong Kong International Photo Festival, 2023
J Davies, Home (Away from Home), Hong Kong International Photo Festival, 2023
Hong Kong International Photo Festival presented the work of Melbourne based artist J Davies in partnership with PHOTO Australia as part of HKIPF’s Satellite Exhibitions 2023, an exchange programme connecting young image makers from Hong Kong and the APAC region. The exhibition Home (Away from Home) comprised a collection of analogue photographs documenting the artist’s life between 2020–2023 through a uniquely personal lens.