Capturing the Home Front by Dorothea Lange

A new exhibition now open at the Australian National Maritime Museum reveals some of iconic moments of World War II as captured by renowned photographer, Dorothea Lange.

Capturing the Home Front is open now until 16 February 2020, and features work by Lange, on loan from the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and photographs by Toyo Miyatake, a Japanese American internee and professional photographer from Los Angeles who smuggled a lens into Manzanar (one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from December 1942 to 1945) and built a camera to capture camp life.

© Dorothea Lange
© Dorothea Lange

Considered an icon of documentary photography, Dorothea Lange established her reputation as a documentarian when she was commissioned by the American government to capture and reveal the devastation wrought on Americans by The Great Depression.

© Dorothea Lange
© Dorothea Lange

During World War II, Lange was commissioned by the US Office of War Information to photograph America’s factories, shipyards, and farms as the nation went to war. Her unvarnished depictions of the forced internment of Japanese Americans from coastal California to inland camps in 1942 were considered too realistic and raw for public consumption, and Ansel Adams was commissioned to document the desolate camp at Manzanar in a better light.

© Dorothea Lange
© Dorothea Lange

Complementing the American content are reproductions from Australian collections of the evocative work of Sam Hood, William Cranstone, Jim Fitzpatrick, and Hedley Cullen who documented wartime industry, Japanese internment, family and country life on our side of the Pacific.

© Dorothea Lange
© Dorothea Lange
 

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April

Canberra: 27 Feb until 20 July 2025. The National Library has invited renowned Australian photojournalist Mike Bowers to select some of his favourite images from the Fairfax Photo Archive.

Brisbane: Until 13 July 2025. Amateur Brisbane photographer Alfred Henrie Elliott (1870-1954) extraordinary images lay dormant for decades until they were discovered only recently. This exhibition is curated by seven Brisbane photographers.

Sydney: Until 31 Dec 2025. PIX, Australia’s first pictorial news weekly, is brought to life in this exhibition, showcasing its archived images and stories for the very first time.

May

Sydney: 15 May – 19 October. Showcasing 100 incredible images, this remarkable exhibition offers a window into the astonishing variety of life on our planet – and the critical importance of preserving it.

Perth: From 31 May – 28 Sept 2025. Featuring 85 works from three major series – Deep Springs, Overpass, and Cross Country – the exhibition spans twelve years of Contis’s evolving photographic practice.

June

Sydney: Until 6 July. Presenting the results of the 2025 World Press Photo Contest, the annual exhibition showcases the best and most important photojournalism and documentary photography of the last year.

Melbourne: June 5 - 16 August 2025. The explore the history of Alan Adler's photobooths and their cultural significance, alongside visual stories told by the community.

Adelaide: 7 June – 16 August. Drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection, this photographic exhibition captures the experience of lives lived through dance.

Melbourne: 7 June – 31 August. Protest is a Creative Act seeks to address issues around the body, sexuality, race, national identity and the environment.

Canberra; June 19 - July 12 2025. The River Report is a five-day map of when a normal Yitilal (wet season) turned into a major disaster and the local inhabitants were once again displaced.