Pictures tell a thousand words: New exhibition shows past through pictures

The best photojournalists across Cairns and Australia feature in new exhibitions to open next Friday at Cairns galleries.

Last Place at Brunette Downs: The last place runner at the Northern Territory's oldest race meeting on Brunette Downs Station. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A celebration of photojournalism will take over Cairns galleries from next Friday, as three exhibitions capture a range of subject matter from the dust of the remote Northern Territory to more familiar figures to the Far North.

It’s a cliche for a reason; photojournalists can show humanity in one picture in a way words can’t.

And on January 17 the Mulgrave and Courthouse galleries will showcase the best of Australian photojournalism in three new exhibitions.

Paper Tigers – An Anthology of Australian Photojournalism by Head On Foundation is one of three different exhibitions that explores Australia’s history and social conscience through photos.

The curation features 60 photos from 60 photojournalists including iconic images like Gough Whitlam and Vincent Lingiari.

'100 years and 3 Weeks'- Alf 'Popeye' Neal OAM with his great great grandson Kailan in his Yarrabah home after reaching 100 years of age. Picture: Brian Cassey

Head On Foundation director Moshe Rosenzveig described the exhibition as an injection of truth in a world filled with misinformation.

“The idea was to get a wide picture of what Australian photojournalism has been like in the last 30 years,” Mr Rosenzveig said.

“It’s not about rewriting history, it’s about what it was from a perspective … without manipulation of any of these images.

“This is part of maintaining democracy and maintaining … sanity, because we know that this is the real thing.”

Landon Punch is Yindjibarndi man who lives in Roebourne, Western Australia. Landon and Joey were part of a story on 'Life After Death in Custody' on the fallout for Aboriginal people who have lost loved ones and community members to police violence or neglect while in police custody. Landon had killed the baby kangaroo's mother for food. He said "I will now hand rear the joey until it is big enough to survive in the bush." I thought it was an interesting contrast in duty of care when compared to the way Aboriginal people are treated in police custody.

Acclaimed photojournalist Brian Cassey was instrumental in the creation of Paper Tigers as well as the other two exhibitions, Brian Cassey: A Photographer’s Life Part Three: The Portraits, and Word on the Street – Photojournalism by the Youth of Our City.

Mr Cassey said the third instalment of his series included community giants like George Skeene and Alf Neal and tried to tell their lifetime of stories through portraits.

“It’s very challenging to get the feel of a story through a portrait,” Mr Cassey said.

“There’s one [portrait] of Alf Neal OAM at 100 from Yarrabah … who was a driving force behind the 1967 referendum.

“It’s just him and his three-year-old great-great grandson just a few months before he actually died … so, it’s got some sad aspects to it.”

Mr Cassey was also heavily involved in the Word on the Street exhibition, which features works from Trinity Bay State High School students and the next generation of photojournalists.

Youth Culture & Abandoned Heritage, by Laura Barany 2024.

“I’ve been mentoring Trinity Bay High School visual arts students for years now … and we came up with this idea of creating an exhibition out of their work,” he said.

“It’s an interesting exhibition … it’s really quite rewarding and it’s been great to give something back.”

The three exhibitions will open on Friday, January 17 at 6pm.

Originally published as Pictures tell a thousand words: New exhibition shows past through pictures