IN what Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council’s program co-ordinator for place management, Tracey Lamont, said was its “first real activation”, the newly refurbished, No Name Lane, off Monaro Street, was launched in fine style on Thursday night with an exhibition of photographs by Braidwood artist Frank Lindner.

Close to Monaro Street there are two large screens, featuring his  “staged” photographs, while further into the lane, which has been painted in bright colours, smaller screens show portraits of local  people.

Lindner, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council’s 2022 Art Award winner, mainly works in photographic portraiture and often uses surroundings and props in a theatrical way to enhance the visual story.

A former photographer in New York with a Masters in visual arts from the ANU, Lindner has said of his chosen subjects: “Outsiders wear their badge with pride… the people in the photographs were mostly known to me. They modelled and I used props and lighting to create a mise en scène.”

The Monaro Lanes project, completed this year at a cost of $505,701 (alongside the upgrading of Blacksmiths Lane) would, Lamont said, make the lane “a vibrant, engaging safe place, for telling stories of the past  and into the future”. In her view,  this exhibition had added a “quirky” touch to the precinct.

There would be probably be six-monthly change overs and local photographers would be invited to exhibit, she said.

On hand to open the show was CEO of Southern Tablelands Arts Rose Marin who praised the “lovely layers and complexities” in the photographs, adding “Frank gives us the pictures, but now I’m trying to guess the names for them.”

No need – Lindner said 50 per cent of the people in his photos were there in person for the launch.

“The Outsider, “Outdoor Gallery, No Name Lane, Queanbeyan for six months.