Conference: Art History’s History in Australia and New Zealand

This coming Sunday one of the 2009 Bowness Prize judges Helen Ennis is presenting a paper at:

Conference: Art History’s History in Australia and New Zealand
Saturday 28th August and Sunday 29th August
Venue: Elisabeth Murdoch lecture theatre, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, The University of Melbourne, Parkville.
This is a free public event, and registration for attendance is not required.
Enquires: Professor Jaynie Anderson, t: (+61 3) 8344 5514 and Dr Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios mewi@unimelb.edu.au

Sunday 29th August 2010
11:30 – 12:00
Helen Ennis
Associate Head, Undergraduate
Associate Professor, Art Theory Workshop, ANU School of Art

‘Other histories: photography and Australia’
Photography has its own histories, which were begun relatively late. The first, Jack Cato’s The Story of the Camera in Australia was published more than 110 years after photography began to be used in the colonies. Histories of Australian photography are still few in number, amounting to a total of four (Cato; Gael Newton; Anne-Marie Willis and Helen Ennis). Photography has another doubled history relating to its inclusion in broader histories of Australian art (Christopher Allen, Art in Australia, 1997; Andrew Sayers, Australian Art, 2001; John McDonald, Art of Australia, 2008). This phenomenon too is recent. As a medium and as a set of practices photography has presented various difficulties to art historians. In this paper I will consider some of these and argue for new ways of thinking about photography and history.

Amanda Thornton