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| Head On Photo Festival | |
|---|---|
| Name | Head On Photo Festival |
| Location | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founders | Moshe Rosenzveig |
| Genre | Photography festival |
Head On Photo Festival is an annual photography festival held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, founded in 2004. The festival presents gallery exhibitions, public projections, talks, workshops and competitions, attracting photographers, curators and audiences from across Australia and internationally. It operates within a network of cultural institutions, galleries and media partners and intersects with the practices of photojournalism, documentary photography, fine art photography and commercial photography.
The festival was established in 2004 by Moshe Rosenzveig and emerged during a period marked by the prominence of figures and institutions such as Annie Leibovitz, Sebastião Salgado, Elliott Erwitt, Magnum Photos, Getty Images and World Press Photo. Early editions engaged with exhibitions and programs that referenced histories associated with National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Australian Centre for Photography, and international events like Photokina and Vivid Sydney. Over subsequent years the festival curated projects featuring themes resonant with work by photographers represented by Contact Press Images, VII Photo Agency, Panos Pictures and publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, Time (magazine), National Geographic and The Sydney Morning Herald. The festival’s evolution corresponded with debates in circles linked to Susan Sontag-era criticism, curatorial practices inspired by John Szarkowski, and market forces similar to those at Aperture Foundation and Tate Modern photography programmes.
Organizationally the festival collaborates with municipal and cultural bodies including City of Sydney, New South Wales Government, Australia Council for the Arts and institutions like Art Gallery of New South Wales, State Library of New South Wales and Carriageworks. Programming has encompassed artist talks, panel discussions and masterclasses with practitioners and institutions associated with Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange and contemporary curators from Sydney Festival and Perth Festival. The festival partners with media outlets such as ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), SBS (Australian broadcaster), The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and international platforms like BBC and CNN. Funding and sponsorship networks have included organizations akin to Telstra, Qantas, Canon Inc., Leica Camera AG and philanthropic entities similar to Ian Potter Foundation and Beswick Family Foundation.
Exhibitions have been staged across a mix of commercial galleries, public museums and non-profit spaces including venues akin to MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art Australia), AGNSW, Powerhouse Museum, Carriageworks, Brett Whiteley Studio, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and independent spaces comparable to Yavuz Gallery and Mossgreen. Public projections and outdoor displays have used urban façades and sites in proximity to Circular Quay, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour and the precincts of Hyde Park and Martin Place. Satellite events and international pop-ups referenced partnerships similar to Paris Photo, FotoFest, Photo London, Visa pour l'Image, Rencontres d'Arles, Photoville and city festivals such as Frieze Art Fair.
Competitive strands include open-entry and curated categories mirroring structures used by World Press Photo, Sony World Photography Awards, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, Pulitzer Prize and Lucie Awards. Judges have been drawn from institutions and agencies like Magnum Photos, Aperture, Royal Photographic Society, Australian Photographic Society and editorial boards of The New Yorker, Time (magazine), The Guardian and National Geographic. Prize partners resembling Leica Camera, Canon Inc., Adobe Inc. and educational awards associated with University of Sydney and University of New South Wales have supported bursaries, residencies and publication opportunities.
Education programs have targeted school groups, tertiary students and community organisations, often collaborating with entities similar to NSW Department of Education, TAFE NSW, University of Technology Sydney, Australian National University and outreach programmes comparable to Streetwise Opera. Workshops and youth initiatives have worked with collectives and NGOs resembling Red Cross, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and locally-focused groups such as Seniors Rights Service and multicultural organisations in Sydney’s precincts like Haymarket and Paddington.
The festival has presented or associated with work by internationally known and emerging figures linked to names such as Ansel Adams, Andreas Gursky, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Vivian Maier, Irving Penn, James Nachtwey, Don McCullin, Pieter Hugo, Rineke Dijkstra, Olafur Eliasson (photographic projects), Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Larry Clark, Martin Parr, Chris Killip, Bill Henson, Tracey Moffatt, Fay Godwin, Gregory Crewdson, Jillian Edelstein, Max Dupain, Olga Karlotka (emerging), Elliott Erwitt, Sebastião Salgado, Nick Ut, Lee Miller, Man Ray, Gordon Parks, Imogen Cunningham, Ralph Gibson and contemporary practitioners connected to agencies like Magnum Photos and editorial outlets such as The New York Times Magazine.
Critical reception has ranged from coverage in outlets such as The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Guardian, BBC News and The New York Times to academic analysis framed by scholars publishing with Routledge, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. The festival is credited with influencing public engagement with photographic culture in Sydney and shaping professional opportunities similar to those generated by PHOTOFAIRS, AIPAD and major biennales like Venice Biennale and São Paulo Art Biennial. Its impact is visible in increased commissioning by galleries, growth in photography courses at universities such as University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, and incorporation of photographic projects into public festivals like Vivid Sydney.
Category:Photography festivals in Australia