By Max Barger, UQ arts student
This month I had the pleasure of visiting the Museum of Brisbane’s latest exhibition New Light: Photography Now + Then, which centres around the collection of amateur photographer, Alfred Henrie Elliot (1870 – 1954).
Curiously, his photography was not discovered until 1983, where it was found in cigar boxes under a house in Red Hill.
Elliot’s works are an interesting peek back in time, showing snapshots of his everyday life, and Brisbane as it was just developing.
Many of his photographs are stiff and awkwardly still, as is necessary for the medium, which creates a palpable mystery; where was this photo taken, what kind of life did he live?
The museum commissioned seven local artists who combed through the archive, searching for clues and for inspiration.
I spoke with the curator Elena Dias-Jayasinha, who joked that she formed “almost a parasocial relationship with [Alfred Elliot]” as she studied each detail so intensely.
The work which captured my attention was ‘We were thought to be mysterious and alien…’ by Chinese-Australian artist Tammy Law.
Juxtaposing the black-and-white photography, Law overlays her own photographs in full colour, playing with the transparency of Elliot’s medium, to re-write their narratives.
I thought this irony around the mystery of Elliot’s photographs and the way immigrants were perceived as “alien” was poignant, exploring the disparity between settler and migrant.
She captures her family amongst suburban and natural landscapes, and her photographs share a similar tension to Elliot’s, reflecting the unease of living on colonised lands.
New Light is free, and open until May 2025 in the City Hall.
Photography: Katie Bennett