Every year, around 500,000 people come to see Sydney Life in Hyde Park North. Set in the context of one of the City’s most popular outdoor public spaces, the evocative artworks provide a unique Sydney experience.
The judges were spoilt for choice. From 620 images submitted, 26 have been chosen.
The result is a truly democratic exhibition, featuring works by emerging and established artists from across the spectrum of the art form, including documentary, press and art photography.
We sought to include optimistic and fun images, such as Jenny Evans’s Elvis Goes to the Races, and joyous ones like Christine Gleisner’s Martin and Maggie. Dean Sewell’s Tamara, Jack and Ruby is a contemplative portrait of family life, while Elaine Campaner’s The Harbour View, made out of kitsch objects, seems like a comment on the aspects of our city’s character that are superficial but charming.
It would not have been appropriate to exclude images which are poignant, such as Andrew Quilty’s Days Passed and Joan Cameron-Smith’s Housed by Thought No. 8, respectively of an old man watching the Anzac Day Parade and a young boy lost in thought. Nor did we want to exclude those which raise thorny social or environmental issues, such as Garry Trinh’s Welcome Home, about migrant communities feeling under siege, and Simon McGrath’s Urban Landscape, which alludes to our deepening concern over water shortages.
I would like to thank the City of Sydney and AMP Capital Investors for supporting the project. Thank you, too, to my fellow judges. Finally, I thank the photographers for their distinctive perspectives which so eloquently capture the possibilities of life in this terrific city.
The Sydney Life Prize, valued at $10,000, is comprised of $5,000 cash from the City of Sydney plus a $5,000 investment in an AMP Capital Sustainable Share Fund. It is awarded for the work judged most outstanding in the exhibition by the judges: Sandy Edwards (Curator, Sydney Life and Curator, Stills Gallery), Christine Morrow (Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art) and Bec Dean (Curator, Australian Centre for Photography).
New this year is the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by FUJIFILM Australia. Vote at the Art & About Free Catalogue and Information Booth in Hyde Park North and be in the draw to win a digital camera. The winning photographer will receive FUJIFILM Australia product worth $3,000.
Sandy Edwards, Curator Sydney Life
The Photographers and their Photos
Fiona Morris - Girls from Guangdong Province, Chinese New Year
Christine Gleisner - Martin and Maggie, 2007
Jenny Evans - Elvis Goes to the Races
Paul Blackmore - Lambo Wings
Dean Sewell - Tamara, Jack and Ruby
David Matheson and Eszter Marosszeky - Lounge-room, Lilyfield, 2007
Ingvar Kenne - Kellyville
Joan Cameron-Smith - Housed by Thought No. 8
Joanne Saad - Ipar (Voted People's Favourite)
Elaine Campaner - The Harbour View (Breakfast in Sydney)
Simon McGrath - Urban Landscape
Andrew Quilty - Days Passed
Neil Bailey - Sydney Museum
Ivan Buljan - Ms Paula Horvat Dreaming
Steven Siewert - 38° at 2pm
Martin Mischkulnig - Eila
Ali Nasseri - Aged Care is no Place for a Young Person
R. Ian Lloyd - Artist Guo Jian studies himself for a painting
Wendy McDougall - Park in a Park (in a park!)
Adrian Cook - Easter, Marrickville, NSW
Steve Christo - Mini Triathlon
Tanya Lake - Jelly Wrestling
Tom Williams - Evening, Kings Cross, 2006
Matt Kaarma - Basketball
Gary Trinh - Welcome Home
Quentin Jones - Fly Boys
Catalogue (pdf)
