Max Dupain – Student Life

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A new Chau Chak Wing Museum exhibition of work by Max Dupain, one of Australia’s best-known modernist photographers, documents the nation at a crossroads.   

 The photographs in Max Dupain: Student Life were taken at the University of Sydney in the early 1950s, a period of rapid change marked by the politics of the Cold War. Initially, Dupain’s love of architecture drew him to the campus, where he photographed modernist buildings such as the Fisher Library designed by Ken Woolley and Tom O’Mahoney. He grew to love the campus and went on to capture student life. The works in Student Life range from shots of formal dances to fiery protests opposing both communism and the McCarthy-era communist witch-hunt underway in the United States.  

 “These were boom years for the university, and Dupain’s candid studies reveal an increasingly diverse student body, following the post-war influx of refugees, women, and Indian and Asian students, some on the ‘Colombo Plan’ sponsoring Asian students to study in Australia,” said Ann Stephen, Senior Curator of the University Art Collection at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.  

 “Dupain’s Sydney University album includes modernist aerial views of interiors, such as the Great Hall and the Union’s Holme Building, along with more informal shots from ‘Freshers’ week. There was a degree of formality, with young women dressed in skirts and heels, and the young men in suits and ties.” 

The infamous Petrov Affair of 1954 is among the events highlighted. A float in the University’s annual ‘Commem Day’ parade reenacts the dramatic moment when Evokia Petrov, a Soviet spy in Canberra under the guise of a diplomat who defected to Australia after Josef Stalin’s death, was escorted onto a plane by KGB men. Early anti-nuclear protests are also depicted on a float opposing University of Sydney Professor Harry Messel’s controversial University Nuclear Research Foundation.  

 The first public exhibition of Dupain’s work in recent times, Student Life can be seen through his modernist lens, with several of the images adopting aerial perspectives emphasising geometric forms.  

 The exhibited prints are digital reproductions of vintage silver gelatin photographs from Sydney University album. They were donated to the University by Diana Dupain under the Federal Government’s Cultural Gifts Program 1996 and are now part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection. 

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July

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.

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.

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.

August

Leica Store Gallery in both Sydney & Melbourne present a unique photographic dialogue between Steve McCurry and Jessie Brinkman Evans. Until late October.

Canberra: 14 August – 13 September 2025. The Texans 1972-73 –features documentary style images from that era. The Camera Unrepair Shop – combines installation, cyanotype process and performance to reflect on the nature of photography.

Ballarat: 23 August – 19 October 2025. This year’s theme is Lifeforce, and it ties into an eight-week program of exhibitions, public art, talks, and workshops across more than 100 venues throughout Ballarat.

October

Melbourne: Oct 31 – Nov 6. Chimera is a photographic investigation into the shifting landscape of beauty in the age of artificial intelligence and social media.