Time Exposures: 60 Life Portraits

Overview

Time Exposures: 60 Life Portraits, on show in the exhibition space on level two of Sydney University’s Fisher library, is an absolute delight. The exhibition consists of sixty ‘portraits’ of people admired by artist Sharon Zwi. Each work is a composite portrait is made up of twenty-five black and white photos taken throughout the subject’s life, presented chronologically.

Not everyone featured in the exhibition is a high-profile Australian, but many are. There are feminists, judges, teachers, scientists, writers, filmmakers, politicians, and many others. Eva Cox, Margaret Whitlam, Shanti Raman, Michael Kirby, John Coetzee, and David Stratton fill out the long list of subjects.

"Photographs address my interest in memory, place, identity and history. Each photo was taken in a time and place of different historical events," explains Zwi. "I also find it fascinating to see the changes as people grow up, mature and age; at what stage you see the 'essence' of the person, when their personalities are formed and their faces take on their identity."

There is something deeply intimate about these works. It feels like you’re looking through a stranger’s private photo albums (which, essentially, you are). Some of the images have been shot professionally, but many are amateur snaps taken over the course of a lifetime. It’s a lovely reminder that life is peppered with so many happy, important occasions worth celebrating and recording. There are pictures of beaming newlyweds, photos thrilled fathers have taken of their wives holding newborn babies, pictures of graduations, confirmations, school pictures, snapshots of cherished dogs, photos with friends and family, holiday happy snaps, photos of people welcoming new pets into the family and photos of young children excited as they hold their new sibling for the first time. It’s terrifically moving.

I only wish that these wonderful works could have been presented in the University Art Gallery. Who knows why they weren’t. I guess there is something nice about being able to stop and look at some gorgeous art while dropping off your library books, but where they’re displayed feels less like an ‘exhibition space’ and more like ‘an available wall’.

This is one of the more poignant exhibitions I’ve seen in a long while. Make sure you take a trip (downstairs) to level two next time you drop into Fisher.