Photography/ “Terra: (un) becoming” by 28 photographers. At PhotoAccess until December 20. Reviewed by CON BOEKEL.

THE photographers in this exhibition were participants in at least one of three PhotoAccess 2023 workshops mentored by Garielle Hall-Lomax, Mark Mohell and Sari Sutton.

There is considerable diversity in technical, conceptual and artistic approaches. There is also a significant variation in quality.

It is not nearly possible here to cover all the high-quality exhibits so I will focus on those that particularly aroused my interest.

“Vestige” by Ed Telfer is a photobook maquette. Ed’s father collected all sorts of stuff in case it might be useful one day. When his father died Ed sorted through all the saved objects. Ed’s photographs of some form the basis of “Vestige”.

I like the title, as well as the modest and unpretentious dimensions of the book. The sense of Ed connecting with his father through the reminiscences triggered by the objects comes together beautifully.

It turns out that the objects did become useful one day.

Yasmin Idriss presents seven works. Canberra’s Bluett’s Block is at the epicentre of a struggle between conservation and development. It has been much photographed, with most of the imagery being in the form of photo realism. Idriss brings something new by way of “Bluett’s Spring Day” and “Bluett’s Winters Day”.

They are landscapes which have been manipulated using post processing. In each, the outlines of Bluett’s can be made out. Idriss has enhanced this with atmospheric effects. The beautiful results shift the framing of Bluett’s from being a heavily contested “rational” space to being pure inspiration, with at least some of Bluett’s value being beyond representation of the “real”.

Fernando Pedrosa presents three highly accomplished works. “It Doesn’t Sound Right” features a bust festooned with IT cables. This echoes Medusa’s head in which her hair has been turned into snakes by a vengeful Minerva. What repercussions will we suffer from our engagement with the digital world?

Sari Sutton, an under-the-radar Canberra photographer presents a photobook “Stand Here”. This is a sophisticated blend of photography technique, subjects and photobook making. The viewer is drawn through the book by rhythmic iterations of shapes, colours, shades and objects. The question thus posed is “Stand where?”

Caroline Lemerle’s “Transient – At the end there is always a beginning” features the interior of a desolate outback shack complete with desiccated kangaroo carcases and an abandoned wire camp bed. The images illustrate Lemerle’s hallmark eye for the main photographic chance. The style is brutal photo realism done in a restrained way with a reduced outback palette. Hot blown whites beyond the window are a signature element.

Martin Skrydstrup documents climate science in frozen lands in “The Black Box of Climate Science”. The photos are black and white snaps of scientists going about their work under rugged circumstances. The scale of the photos and of the photography techniques are ordinary – intended to be seen as “real” as opposed to “fake news”. Skrydstrup presents the photos and a field diary in a black box – a sardonic comment on the misrepresentations of climate science by conspiracists. By way of binding the whole to accurate measurements a compass on top of the black box points to magnetic north.

I gained a general sense that the ambitions for the workshops were too disparate and the outputs too varied to generate a coherent and integrated exhibition. The result is a smorgasbord replete with some very tasty dishes. The exhibition is well worth a graze.