Undoubtedly one of the most important Australian society photographers
of the last 30 years, the premature passing of Rennie Ellis in 2003 was
a great loss to the Australian art community and popular culture in
general. His documentation of a side of Australia that is rarely viewed
by people living outside of this country was and still is incredibly
important. Thankfully the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive has been
set up to collect and catalogue the more than 500,000 images the Ellis has
shot since the late 60s with an incredible variety of work and a side
to the photographer's vision that many may be unaware of.
Later this month through to early in the new year the
Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia will be displaying some of Ellis's works in an exhibition named
No standing Only dancing: Photographs by Rennie Ellis. If you're in the area, it would be well wortth a visit. If not, along with the exhibition the gallery has published a 100 copies of a
limited edition 140 page book which has been specially bound for the
Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive and comes complete with an original Rennie Ellis photograph signed by his widow.
Pictured Above: (detail)
Rennie Ellis - Australia 1940–2003
Dino Ferrari, Toorak Road (1976)
Gelatin silver photograph - 12.6 x 18.9 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased NGV Foundation, 2006 © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive
Also pictured to the right of this post are some more images courtesy of the
NGV and
Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive