THREE Exhibition Openings in Cairns …

Two weeks since the opening of three exhibitions at the adjoining Mulgrave and Court House Galleries in Cairns.

Really stoked to see my new exhibition of 35 portraits “A Photographer’s Life – Part 3 – Portraits” … the collection I curated alongside Head On Photo Festival Director Moshe Rosenzveig “Paper Tigers – An Anthology of Australian Photojournalism” … and the work of Trinity Bay High School students that I mentored and edited with Cairns Galleries curator Chris Stannard “Word on the Street” … all opening simultaneously on the lawn between the galleries.

It was a brilliant and amazingly well attended evening.

Moshe Rosenzveig flew up from Sydney to perform the official exhibition openings under the evenings very threatening skies … and also joined me the following day hosting our artist/curators talks.

It is the first time that “Paper Tigers” has been shown outside of Sydney … and it was a real pleasure to see the sixty works by Australia’s wonderful photojournalist community on the expansive walls of the Court House Gallery … including my 2016 Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize winner “Abdullatif – Beaten Asylum Seeker” (pic 5 below 🙂 ). Was a real (lengthy and sometimes complicated) pleasure to work with Moshe to put this significant collection together. The exhibition includes many examples of Australian photojournalism that are historic and helped shaped the face of the country. VERY well worth a visit and a long long look.

My exhibition of ‘Portraits’ is a logical extension of my two earlier exhibitions … A Photographer’s Life Parts 1 & 2. Part One was exhibited in The Tanks Arts Centre in 2017 … and Part Two in the Court House Gallery in 2021. Together they documented not only my involvement in photography from a very early age and across the decades, but also the changes in photojournalism and the media environment. Part Three demonstrates the move more to portraiture from the more traditional and difficult to obtain (and more expensive) pure photojournalism. It also contains several of my fondest and most emotional images. Great to see some of the images projected the size of a house too !

“Word on the Street” is the product of my connections over the years with Trinity Bay High School and their visual arts students and teachers. I have judged and presented their annual photographic portrait prize for near a decade and have many times provided the students with class room talks and street walks where we explored photography and photojournalism. The catalyst for this particular exhibit was a chat with Cairns Galleries curator Chris Stannard (left in image 4). We mentored the students in photojournalism and encouraged them to produce work whilst charging young cadet journalist Isaac Colman with the task of writing their stories. A very rewarding and successful exercise …

Must, must … hugely thank Chris Stannard and all at the galleries staff (Andy, Narelle, Jilara, Laurence etc etc) who worked so hard to put these exhibitions together … Moshe for his time, expertise, words, camaraderie and attendance … the visual arts students and teachers from TBHS … my wonderful subjects (Vale Alf, George S, George C and Desley) … and all who taken the time out to be there on the opening eve or have subsequently walked through the gallery doors !

Also grateful to Charlie McKillop at ABC Radio who very nicely interviewed me on exhibition opening morning for her ‘Drive’ segment. You may listen to that interview here if you have ten minutes and forty seconds to spare.

Plenty of time left to take in the exhibitions … “Paper Tigers” runs to the 23rd of February … whilst “A Photographer’s Life – Part 3 – Portraits” and “Word on the Street” have both been extended until the 29th February. I may even catch you there 😉 .

I do hope to have some fascinating ‘360 degree’ videos of the exhibitions very soon.

In pics below … Mulgrave Gallery entry to “A Photographer’s Life – Part 3 – Portraits” and “Word on the Street” during an accompanying musical event – featuring my image “The Kids of Ali Curung” … my exhibit image “George at the Bus Stop” projected at dusk … some of my portraits on the walls of the Mulgrave Gallery … Cairns Galleries Chris Stannard at the Court House entry to “Paper Tigers” … my work :Abdullatif – Beaten Asylum Seeker” in the Court House Gallery “Paper Tigers” collection … projection of my work “Veronica – Where Home Brew Kills” late on opening evening … lastly, Head On’s Moshe Rosenzveig (right), myself (left – a VERY rare pic), friends from the Cairns photographic community Shaz Spannenburg, Peter Rossi, Charmaine Heyer, Polly Fenton with (rear) Robert Gray from Brisbane … at the Conservatory Bar ‘after launch’ ‘do.

Images © Brian Cassey … except second © Cristina Bevilacqua … and bottom © Moshe Rosenzveig/Sarah Hulgill

Vale Carol … My Best Subject … ABC Far North

Carol Mayer … heroic burns survivor, subject of my some of my most successful images and all round great lady … very sadly died in December 2020 after a fight with the Big C. Carol fought for her life and won after a house fire left her near death with burns to 85% of her body … but cruelly cancer eventually beat her.

Carol allowed me to make memorable images of the results of the fire on her body.  They gained recognition in Australia and around the World. Carol’s rationale in allowing me to make them was that she hoped the work would empower other burns survivors. The pictures not only resonated with other burns survivors but also gave Carol a boost in self confidence helped her embark on many speaking events.

In the days following her death in December 2020 I was asked to share my thoughts about Carol and my images of her in an interview on ABC Radio Drive with presenter Adam Stephen.

The interview (below) runs for 8 minutes and 43 seconds.

“Better Pictures” Mag

Nice interview spread in the current “Better Pictures” magazine – a 3 page feature on photojournalism and I entitled “Inside Story”.

The articles tells of the challenges of photojournalism in this day and age (from my humble perspective) – and a little about my history in photography and the kit I use.

Good to see my images of Hong Kong Cage Homes, Carol Mayer’s portrait, the Fiji coup and the Holi Festival in Rajasthan used … but not fussed about the text and blocks encroaching on the images look!

Although “Better Pictures” is mainly a publication for enthusiasts any little bit of profile building never goes astray!

Below are images of the three pages of the magazine … images © Brian Cassey

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Revamped Web Site ‘Live’ … !

If you are reading this then my new totally revamped web site is now LIVE!

Although the overall feel and look of the new site  is reminiscent of the older one it is actually a complete rewrite and you will notice huge improvements. The images have all been reworked and resized and now display much larger whilst automatically adjusting to fit the size of the viewing screen. So … if you have a large monitor the images will show nice’n’BIG!

In addition – site navigation has been much improved, new previously unseen photo essays and images have been added, the awards page has been updated … and there is now a brand new additional page -‘Play’- which features slide shows and multi media content.

A very patient and understanding Karl Sandoval from Julian Communication was responsible for the great work on the revamp … and he can now relax and stop dreading my continuous flood of emails!

All in all the new revamped site should greatly improve the viewing experience. If you find any bugs or glitches … or have any comments at all on the new site … please leave a comment here or email me at … Thanks!

Below is a screen shot of the new main page showing the improved navigation to the various photographic portfolios and images etc.

© Image Brian Cassey

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