Photofields 2024

Presented by Powerhouse, this year's program explores the powerful role of lens-based media in telling stories about the cosmos, the sky and Country.

Overview

In December 1874, Sydney Observatory astronomers made their first photograph of the Transit of Venus. This achievement was the result of interdisciplinary collaboration between astronomers, photographers and industry. 150 years on Photofields brings together photographers and scientists working across astronomy, photojournalism, art and film for a series of workshops, talks and screenings presented across Ace Hotel Sydney, Golden Age Cinema and Sydney Observatory.

Highlights include All Light, Everywhere, a screening of Theo Anthony’s award-winning documentary All Light, Everywhere (2021) and Powerhouse short film production Human Computers (2024), at Golden Age Cinema and Bar. Anthony’s feature length documentary investigates the biases inherent in human perception. Focusing on astronomer Jules Janssen’s Passage de Vénus (1874) – considered one of the world’s first motion pictures and depicting the trajectory of Venus across the sun – the documentary explores understandings of the camera as a scientific device intended to capture absolute reality.

Plus, Photographing with Country with Peta Clancy brings Yorta Yorta artist and researcher Peta Clancy leading a workshop that invites participants to engage with the landscapes and cultural histories of Country through the lens of photography. For this workshop, participants are invited to bring a printed photograph of Country, landscape, or place to respond to. Discussions will reflect on the multiple time frames, histories, and viewpoints represented in the photographs. Participants will produce a photographic reinterpretation or written response informed by their reflections and positionality in relation to their shared photograph.

In addition, Multimedia artist Meng-Yu Yan will guide participants through a shadow photography workshop after dark, and artist Yvette Hamilton will deliver a ‘cameraless’ lumen printing workshop at Sydney Observatory.