Talking the art of taking photos

A PANEL discussion is set to take place later this month at the Art Gallery of Ballarat between featured creatives in the Beating About The Bush exhibition.

The event will see new Ballarat International Foto Biennale CEO Vanessa Gerrans leading the talk with exhibiting photographers Jill Orr, Peta Clancy and Siri Hayes.

Ms Gerrans said she will “guide” the creatives in a conversation examining their featured works and creative processes.

“The title of our talk is Who’s in the Picture? So it’ll be a discussion about the artists and what discernment process led to their decisions for their works,” she said.

“They have to make decisions about composition and colour and the context and histories behind their pieces. It’ll be artist-led.

“They can use those points to bring in what led them to make their particular picture and why they chose it for this exhibition.”

The Beating About The Bush exhibition, which is open until Sunday, 19 February, layers contemporary photography over Australian Impressionist paintings.

Ms Gerrans said she hopes attendees will get a more intimate look at the featured creatives.

“I want them to understand the personalities behind these works and what drives them to their reflections,” she said.

“We get to see their piece on the wall and form our own imaginings about what they might mean but to hear directly from the photographer is a rarefied experience.

“This is a nationally important exhibition. There’s a lot of accomplished work here and it’s a lovely way of looking at older pieces in a new perspective.

“For the artists, I hope they get that sense of engagement. They don’t operate in a vacuum. They’re intending for their works to connect with people so they’ll get that resonance from the audience.”

Set for Saturday, 11 February Who’s in the Picture? will run from 2pm until 4pm. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for gallery members.