By Ewen McRae
Hopetoun Park’s Wayne Quilliam is closing in on his 300th exhibition, but he’s still finding new ways to inspire and spark conversations.
The veteran photographer will showcase his latest works at the opening of the new aMBUSH Gallery in Canberra this week, which will bring together contemporary indigenous artists for the While You Were Sleeping exhibition.
Since joining the navy in his late-teens, Quilliam has been fascinated with capturing culture in his photography, and his own take on indigenous cultures across Australia has become his life’s passion.
“I was amazed at the people and places around the world and wanted to capture the essence of culture and what that looked like in different places,” he said.
“As I go out on country as an aboriginal man, the first thing I do is ask the people who’s land you’re on whether you can capture their land, and that then influences how you photograph it and how you tell the story of that land.
“My influence comes from the land and the textures … everything from the bark on the trees to the rivers and the mountains, so I hope people come away from the exhibition with a different perspective on the indigenous people and our art.”
With shows later in the year in Geneva, New York and Amsterdam, as well as all over Australia, Quilliam said he wanted to change the perceptions about what indigenous art is.
“Here in Australia I can have a show, and the discussions can be very simplified,” he said.
“It’s not seen as indigenous art sometimes, whereas when I go overseas there is incredible dialogue in how they perceive it, but they understand that it is indigenous art.”
