Alfred Henrie Elliott (1870-1954) was a keen amateur photographer whose significant body of work, donated to the city of Brisbane, has been housed at the Museum of Brisbane (MoB) since 1983. Preserved in cedar cigar boxes, the Elliott Collection appeared to have lain dormant for decades until it was discovered under a house in inner city Red Hill.
Initially it numbered over 400 glass plate negatives, 100 prints and a tailboard camera, but in 2014 an additional cigar box containing 400 film negatives and 92 prints was found. This increased the Collection to over 800 photos, with a date range encompassing a 50-year period from 1890 to 1940. Representing one of the most significant collections of historical images of early Brisbane, it also documents a period of great growth for the city. Elliott captured social, economic and environmental changes to Brisbane in his wide-ranging snapshots of family and friends, sporting events, local beaches and parks, alongside built infrastructure.
Drawing on Elliott’s source material though is merely the starting point of this enlightening exhibition, as curator Elena Dias-Jayasinha has envisioned the main focus of New Light: Photography Now + Then to be one with a strong contemporary focus.
Appreciating Elliott’s work and reinterpreting it through the perspective of today’s world, Dias-Jayasinha cleverly presents three interwoven yet distinctive approaches from the historical to the present day, including a component of community engagement. Her articulated vision, encapsulating in detail the original work on which the exhibition is based, clearly shows the progression from Elliott’s world to the modern era.
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The first section focuses on Elliott’s photography with some 50 images blown up and beautifully printed to show his lived experiences and everyday world. The story of his early life with family photos sits alongside numerous and well-explained photographic objects.
There are interactive displays of the technologies of the period from the dry plate process through film photography and the art of the stereoscope. A digital film shows the process of using a tailboard camera, also on display, from the complexity of taking through to developing photographs. A magnifying glass is thoughtfully provided to read his sliding scale drawings, written in exquisite tiny copperplate handwriting. A carefully curated and fascinating component of the exhibition.
Elliott’s work is clearly one man’s perspective, taken from a colonial viewpoint of the period and limited by the technologies of the day and his own skills. With that in mind, we move on to view work by seven contemporary Brisbane-based photographers, commissioned by MoB to create new works in response to Elliott’s images. Given free rein and with their own specific interests and viewpoints, the artists’ perspectives are as diverse as they are creative.
Both Jo-Anne Driessens and Tammy Law reflect on their own lived experiences in viewing Elliott’s work, searching for any gaps and blanks to which they could respond with differing results. Marian Drew and Nina White are keen to explore Elliott’s subjectivity, finding moments in his photographs that have particular resonance for them. Carl Warner considers Elliott’s landscapes in terms of their composition, which he judges to be of a similar construct throughout, and responds with his own composed photograph. Joachim Froese deconstructs the hierarchical portraiture of a child’s birthday party, reworking it within a contemporary context using mobile phone technology. And Keemon Williams uses a stunning Elliott image of horses on a stormy beach to reimagine a futuristic almost lunar landscape.
An engaging and well-explained film of the artists discussing their responses is included while their works, displayed around the outer walls in an appealing design, appear to cocoon Elliott’s photographs that are centrally displayed in the gallery.
Alongside these commissions, the Brisbane community was invited to respond to the Elliott Collection by capturing their own black and white photograph of Brisbane’s built environment today. From over 100 entries, 68 were chosen by the curator and team to be part of the Viewfinders engagement exhibition.
A complete wall of photos with credits sits just outside the main exhibition space and is as diverse in scope as it is enthralling. There are splendid examples of the modern metropolis of Brisbane today and both creative and intriguing compositions, which go beyond the singular vision created by Elliott in a bygone era. The black and white shots are particularly illuminating.
While honouring Brisbane’s history and culture in a respectful and meaningful way, this exhibition also offers a fresh, contemporary view of our world, juxtaposing diverse responses to Elliott’s work. Additionally, inviting the local community to participate and contribute to the city’s ongoing story is a welcome initiative.
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In her first curatorial role for MoB, Dias-Jayasinha and her team have created an impressive and high-quality exhibition that should engender much interest. The distinct threads of New Light: Photography Now + Then offers the viewer a thoughtfully curated program in a well-designed gallery space. Running at MoB for the next 11 months, this exhibition has much to offer a broad audience of adults and children alike, as well as appealing to locals and visitors to the city.
New Light: Photography Now + Then
Museum of Brisbane
CEO/Director: Zoe Graham
Curator: Elena Dias-Jayasinha
Original Photographer: Alfred Henrie Elliott
Contemporary compositions: Marian Drew, Jo-Anne Driessens, Joachim Froese, Tammy Law, Carl Warner, Nina White and Keemon Willaims
New Light: Photography Now +Then will be on display until 13 July 2025; free.
