Beta issue 07

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JANUARY 2014

developments in photography

BETA developments in photography ISSUE 07 editor: Jeff Moorfoot design: Penelope Anne contact: beta@ballaratfoto.org web: beta.org.au All content in this magazine is Š 2014 of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale and participating artists, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the BIFB. Inc save for fair dealing for the purposes of research, study, criticism, review, reporting news. All other rights are reserved.

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Emma Stoneman ARCHITECTONIC

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Gary Sheppard AIR CRAFT

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Simona Bonanno THE INNER INVISIBLE

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Craig Holloway ABANDONED PLACES

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Nathan Miller

NOTES FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA

Welcome to the seventh edition of BETA - developments in photography.

In this issue we feature the work of five artists who featured in the various supporting programs of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2013.

ctures whose use by date has come and gone. One reads from his images that it appears the rate of deterioration is exponentially linked to the relative youth of the subject matter… a comment on our society perhaps?

BIFB’13 ran from August 20th to September. The festival comprised 235 separate events, and exhibited an estimated 8100 images by 777 artists from all over Australia and around the world... A fairly hefty bunch of statistics even if we do say so ourselves! The BIFB continues to demonstrate itself as one of the most significant festivals of photography in the SouthernHemisphere, with audience numbers up 21% over figures for the 2011 event.Likewise our online magazine readership continues to increase in parallel and we aim to maintain the presentation of extended photographic portfolios in the pages of BETA – developments in photography for your continuing enjoyment

Emma Stoneman has participated in the fringe at every festival since 2007 as part of the Yum duo in cahoots with Emma McCuskey. This time she flew solo with her show ‘Architectoic’ which examined the built environment from an entirely different perspective.

Her assembled images offer architecture as a symbolic representation of the human form, a fluid mass constructed around a solid spine.

In this issue we present two artists who showed in the BIFB’13 Fringe.

Ballarat photographer Craig Holloway’s ‘Abandoned Places’, is an ongoing project documenting stru-

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07 also features two artist who featured in the BIFB’13 Projections Loop – a five hour program of audio visuals that played continuously in the Art Gallery of Ballarat throughout the festival.

Nathan Miller’s ‘Notes From the Mississippi Delta’ is a pictorial essay that resonates with all of the iconic aspects of the deep south of the USA. The blues, faith, race, death, justice and haircuts all get a guernsey as his lens takes us on a languid road trip through the Mississippi Delta.

From Italy, Simona Bonanno, presents her mesmerising exercise in gestalt.

‘The inner invisible’ ...a beautiful symphony of colour realised with the simplest of concepts, but executed with the eye of an artist.

I will take over the editorial role while our BIFB design intern Penny Crabtree will take care of the look and feel of the magazine ..without making any radical changes - ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!’

And finally we present the slick high tech aircraft images from Gary Sheppard’s entry ‘Air’ into the Blurb sponsored ‘One for the Books’ prize for self published photographic books.

As Sheppard states in his intro ‘Form follows function’ …. It doesn’t matter how good it looks if it doesn’t work!

A maxim of critical importance to the aircraft industry, and pretty much to life itself.

We look forward to the continuing support of you, our readers, and to building our audience by presenting more of the diversity that mirrors the philosophy of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. And of course we invite artists from all photographic genres to submit well developed bodies of work for consideration of possible inclusion in future editions of BETA – developments in photography.

Issue seven also sees us farewelling BETA - developments in photography editor and designer Heidi Romano, who nursed BETA from the start and established a design aesthetic that has mirrored the quality of the visual essays that have featured in our first six editions. Heidi feels it is time that she moved on to develop other personal projects and promote her own business. We thank her for her significant contribution to BETA and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

And so it leaves only for me to wish you all the best for the holiday season and to look forward to renewing out acquaintance in the pages of BETA – developments in photography 08.

Jeff Moorfoot Festival Director Ballarat International Foto Biennale

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ARCHITECTONIC Emma Stoneman

These works form part of an ongoing investigation examining the poetic forms of human-made structures (architectural, industrial and civil infrastructure). Predominantly photographic based compositions are utilised as a vehicle to explore and study the allegorical relationship and comparisons between the built environment and the human body – with the function and structure of the spine a major focus.

This series of abstract assemblages comprising of architectural images (many derived from iconic modern and post-modern buildings) explore issues of postural alignment and the anatomical structure of the spinal system. Whilst rigid built forms and the organic human skeletal framework may seem at odds, these works examine the common mechanisms and construct a symbolic relationship between the two.

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Kyphosis and Lordosis [convex backwards and forwards] 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 1120mm wide Edition 3 [Building: Neuer Zollhof, Dusseldorf | Architect: Frank Gehry]

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Oblique to axis [C2] 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 915mm wide Edition 3

[Building: Bauhaus Building - Prellerhaus, Dessau | Architect: Walter Gropius]

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Radiograph Reflexion 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 915mm wide Edition 3

[Building: Hotel Inntel, Rotterdam | Architect: Tuns + Horsting Architecten]

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Skeletal strength - compressive and tensile 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 915mm wide Edition 3

[Building: Liège-Guillemins Railway Station | Architect: Santiago Calatrava]

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Static posture with restricted movement 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 1120mm wide Edition 3

[Building: Bauhaus Building, Dessau | Architect: Walter Gropius]

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Strength and Fragility 2013 Archival giclee print - pigment ink on cotton rag paper 915mm high x 915mm wide Edition 3

[Building: Sony Center, Berlin | Architect: Helmut Jahn]

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Emma Stoneman Emma Stoneman was born in Creswick, Victoria and completed her undergraduate studies in Visual Arts (majoring in Printmaking) at the University of Ballarat. She undertook her honours degree in Fine Arts (Printmaking) at RMIT University, Melbourne. After working within the photographic marketing industry for numerous years, she returned to study Building Design following a growing interest in architecture and increasing use of architectural imagery and elements in her artworks.

She is currently employed in the architectural field and this work informs, influences and shapes her arts practice.

Photographic imagery has been a constant throughout Emma’s artwork, which has been regularly exhibited both within the orthodox gallery environment and in non-traditional settings such as commercial and public venues - including site-spcific works in outdoor civic spaces. Her works are held in the collections of the National Library of Australia, University of Ballarat and private collections in Australia, New Zealand and Germany.

During 2013 Emma Stoneman has been Artist-in-Residence at the Arts Academy, School of Education and Arts, University of Ballarat developing a body of work - part of which was exhibited in the Fringe Program of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2013.

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AIR CRAFT Gary Sheppard

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Form Follows Function With modern technology, as in the natural world, form follows function, and aircraft design is no exception. It gradually evolves over long periods of time to efficiently fill whichever niche it is allocated. The more you look at details of aircraft, the more parallels you can draw to nature and the way animals have adapted to fit their roles. The lumbering bulk of A C17 Globemaster 111 might be likened to a whale of the skies while the deadly, lightly built and nimble F16 fighter perhaps to a cheetah.

Not sure what The heavier, more powerful and stealthy F22 could be [leopard perhaps?] but it’s fun to speculate. No matter what their role, be they organisms or aircraft,

they all need a motive force, and it’s Interesting to see how engines have evolved from the slow, oily primitive propeller designs of the early 20th Century to the immensely powerful, efficient engines of today. Notable in the case of modern jet engines are the different shapes and forms that they can take. All performing the same basic propulsive function but each type slightly modified for its purpose. I hope you enjoy this collection of images showing how the craft and science of aeroplane manufacture combine immense power, intricate design and technological evolution to further enhance the miracle of flight.

Gary Sheppard

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‘It’s strange and wonderful the way life twists and turns. A path through an undiscovered country, where a chance meeting can skew your journey in a totally different direction. It was just such an encounter that saw my path diverge from environmental science to photography. As a child I’d always had a fascination with the visual. Toy microscopes and telescopes allowed me to push natural limitations, and take an alternative view of the world. But years later it was that chance encounter that introduced me to photography, allowing me to pursue my interest.

Honing my skills over the last two decades has been an amazing experience. It’s these skills and experience that has seen me working on major campaigns both in Australia and overseas while garnering a host of awards from Cannes, Clio. One

Show, D&AD, London International, AWARD etc. I am a founding member of ACMP and an AIPP Master of Photography. My philosophy is simple: the key to great advertising photography isn’t to just have highly tuned technical skills, but moreover the ability to visually and conceptually enhance an idea. In the world of advertising the concept is king and a good photographer brings something to the table beyond the simple ability to take a photo. Whether you tell that story in 1/60th of a second still or in a 60 second TVC it’s the narrative and it’s connection to humanity that is the bedrock on which successful communication is based.’

Gary Sheppard is and advertising photographer and TV commercial director based in Sydney. website: garysheppard.com

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THE INNER INVISIBLE Simona Bonnano

“…. A feeling that can not be seen, that does not appear in our “visual horizon of the world” but is felt and experienced from the inside.”

- M. Henry

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This feeling finds its expressive and symbolic function in colour, placing emphasis on emotion. Colour becomes a communicative bridge between human beings and the outside world, a reflection of spiritual balance that allows one to “feel” the invisible. Where light meets colour in a reversed horizon, where perception of the “known” is lost, it is there that human beings find their innermost need, combining intimate harmony and spirituality in the abstract song of colour and lines. Colours are like moods, the sea and the sky, vehicles of intimate feelings, here they become fields of colour. The most intimate unknown finds it’s voice in overturning what is real, deconstructing a known landscape across what seems our own interior necessity.

My place, Sicily, gives me light and inspiration. The square visions are like windows on reversed Mediterranean’s seascapes, where the intimate feelings are fixed and every connection with real is lost. Part of my inspiration comes from the theory of Kandinsky - colors like expression of states of being - and also from the big paintings of Mark Rothko - with his large fields of colors. The Inner Invisible is first a dream, a bright vision. I imagined all the possible colors of the sea and the sky, colors that I have known since I was a child, that depend on several factors: season, weather and humidity, and not just on the hours of day. Only after this process do I shoot the photographs. The camera is just the media which realizes and fixes my mental visions.

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Simona Bonanno

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(b. 1974, Messina. Italy)

After obtaining an artistic High School degree in 1992 Simona Bonanno studied in Paris, at Atelier Peninghen, ESAG. She received a Bachelor of Arts in 1999 at the School of Arts in Italy, where she started photographing with films. Her photographs have been selected for several group exhibitions and projections in Italy, USA, France, Australia, Argentina, Israel, Turkey and Denmark. In 2013 her first solo exhibition has take place in Nyon, Switzerland, at the Galerie Focale. Recently Bonanno won the Grand Prix de DÊcouverte, Abstract category, International Fine Art Photography; Her winning image has been exhibited at the Salon de la Photo in Paris, France, in November 2013. In 2011 she was the overall winner of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and Amateur Photographer of the Year 2011 in the United Kingdom. She presently works in Italy as a photographer, teacher and graphic designer.

website: simonabonanno.com email: simona@simonabonanno.com 65

ABANDONED PLACES Craig Holloway

I have been exploring the theme of Abandoned Places for a number of years, and I am drawn to the broken down and derelict. These places, often built with great hopes have gradually outlived their purpose, now lie discarded and falling into decay.

Who worked, lived or played in these places? What happened there and what secrets do they hold? Often surrounded by vast empty spaces, yet still tentatively connected to the outside world, I have captured these lonely monuments to human endeavour and habitation, bringing new life to places otherwise deserted and forgotten.

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Craig Holloway Ballarat. Australia

Craig Holloway grew up in Ballarat, playing Aussie rules football through muddy winters and cricket in blazing summers, before graduating as a food scientist and working in that industry for ten years while taking various part time courses in photography and printing techniques.

Finally chucking in the lab coat he traveled through Europe, cycling through France before living in Provence for a year, then Scotland, all the while capturing his surrounds.

Then to New Zealand for seven years, running a luxury Lodge in Russell, Bay of Islands while documenting life and culture of the small village before plunging into digital photography full time and opening the Bay of Islands Image Gallery and exhibited in several group shows.

Returning to Ballarat in 2007 Craig continued with his commercial work, including freelance photojournalism for The Ballarat Courier. Over the past few years he has been exploring the greater region for his Abandoned Places series. website: artfocus.net.au

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NOTES FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA Nathan Miller

Nathan Miller likes to see his photography considered as “documentary” or “street” photography. He believes that his photography should tell a story.

Wherever he is, he looks to explore what is not obvious. He believes in exploring the undercurrent that is concealed from the unaware. He is a traveler with a camera who stops in certain places. In order to communicate visually, he has to stay for a time, while losing himself among the people.

Sam Carr in Red’s Juke Joint Clarksdale, 2005

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Paul ‘Wine’ Jones (1 July 1946-9 October 2005) New Year at Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, 2004

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Super Chikan’s ‘workshop’ Clarksdale, 2007

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Tutwiler 2003 Sunday in New Jerusalem Church 2007

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BBQ at Poor Monkey Marigold, 2005 Highway 61 2005

Memphis 2002

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904½ at Shelby 2004

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Walnut Bait Shop Juke Joint (now Walnut Bar and Grill) Greenville, 2002

Big Jack Johnson Clarksdale, 2002

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Railway tracks in Tutwiler - where the blues began 2004

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Monday Night at Poor Monkey Marigold, 2005

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R.L. Burnside (21 November 1926-1 September 2005) Holly Springs, 2002 Haircut in Indianola 2007

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Hard Rock Cafe Juke Joint Marigold, 2002 Wild Bill’s Juke Joint Memphis, 2002

Highway 1 Rosedale, 2002

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Sam Carr at Home Lula, 2002

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T-Model Ford, New Year at Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, 2004

Super Chikan Clarksdale, 2007 Bar-B-Q in Helena 2007

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Sunday in Belzoni 2004

Highway 49, Tutwiler to Clarksdale 2005

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Ballarat National Photographic Exhibition Sat 7 Dec – Sun 19 Jan | Art Gallery of Ballarat