Defence

Review

Focus: photography and war 1945-2006

For 150 years photographs have helped define Australia’s military history, and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra holds some of the most powerful images of our time at war.

Hundreds of these photos, taken by some of the world’s best war photographers, can now be seen in a special exhibition and a new book published by the Memorial. The exhibition, Focus: photography and war 1945-2006, captures the horror and humanity of military and peacekeeping actions over a turbulent 60-year period, through the lenses of 15 official and freelance photographers.

The book, authored by Shaune Lakin, Contact: photographs from the Australian War Memorial collection, spans almost 150 years of Australia’s military history, and is the most comprehensive work to date surveying what is one of the world’s most extensive photographic archives. The photographs are eerily clear, with facial expressions often saying much more than the words themselves.

Australian War Memorial Director, Mr Steve Gower, said the museum was pleased to be able to share some of the most potent images from its archive with the public through the exhibition and book.

“Photographs have a vital function in the national memory of war. They provide an indelible image of the sacrifice and experience of Australian Servicemen and women and portray some of the defining moments in this nation’s history,” he said.

Including the work of Tim Page, Stephen Dupont, David Dare Parker and George Gittoes, Focus: photography and war 1945-2006 features 80 diverse images including some taken after the atomic bomb was dropped above the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, and photographs taken in Korea, Vietnam, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

Exhibition curator, Ms Patricia Sabine, said the photographs “provide an illuminating and complex view of the physical and emotional effects of conflict, on both the Australians who serve and those who live in regions affected by war.”

Contact includes some of the photos in the exhibition; however, has an even broader scope, documenting the start of Australia’s colonial military history, in 1861, through World War I, World War II and the many conflicts through until the present.

More than 200 images are featured in this extraordinary 300-page book, which also traces the intimate and changing relationship that has existed between war and photography since its invention in the 19th century – as an analytical tool, for propaganda purposes and for revelation.

Focus is on public display until 19 March this year and entry is free. Contact is available at the Australian War Memorial bookshop and in all reputable bookstores, priced at $49.95.

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