Over the years I have produced many portraits for clients and projects. I would like to share some of these with you. It is also a taste of the life and the culture that surrounds us. I intend to create a series of blogs just called ‘Portraits‘ starting with:-
Traditional Houses high pitched Roofs for cooling just like the one I grew up in
Having travelled extensively in the Country of my birth. I felt as a photographer I would like to show a side of Australia that tourists rarely see. The working and gritty side of a commodity driven country.
I have used black and white for strength. I see much of Australia as time warped in the 19th century. Much of the attitude beyond the populated coastal regions is early 20th century to 1945 the 50s and 60s. When I left Australia the first time the population had not yet hit 10 million. Today it borders on 25 million and should continue to grow exponentially. However still most new comers cling to the coastal regions like clinging to the gunnel of a boat. Little effort has been made by successive governments to develop the interior of this vast continent Island for community growth.
The main development has been for short term commercial / profit driven gains. Such objectives have caused the plundering of one of the world’s great commodity reservoirs with little thought for the landscape or its inhabitants. Many will say irrigation is a problem however Australia has one of the great sweet water catchments of the world in the Great Artesian Basin covering in excess of 1/3 of the country.
Great Artesian Basin of Australia the Largest Artesian Basin in the world
The country suffers from lack of real communication infrastructure development, railways and roads. There has been too much profiteering by small groups in power that have been too quick to take the vast sums of corporate cash on offer by the multi-nationals that covert the buried riches of Australia. The country is the epitome of the good life for the few a promotion of the 1%. This issue manifests in the lack of of support for the farming communities, wildlife protection and the governments inertia related to fire seasons.
Still many commodity industries are producing as they have for the last 150 years through the blood sweat and tears of hard yakka (yakka Australian for work). As an example Australia produces 1/3 of the world’s wool this wool from the Merino sheep is of the finest micron quality on the globe. Although some of the micron quality ( not all ) has been purposely lowered for more cost effective Chinese manufacturing. Shearing still takes place in the shearing shed on the sheep stations as it has for 150 years. Many commodities are mined in small holdings by sweating miners sometimes working in dangerous conditions, Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, White Cliffs to name a few.
Tradition housing dating to the 1800s
Australia the Outback and Silverton the 1800s ‘ Mad Max’ Country
From the 1800s
Tradition 1800s town centre similar to USA of same periodThe Church Silverton nr Broken HillClunes VictoriaThe DunnyThe PubLion of Waterloo Pub Wellington NSW again high pitched roofTown Centre Silverton NSWThe car a Ford 60sHistoryThe BarThe Indian Pacific Railway Trans Australia Indian to pacific OceansThe prospectorThe indigenousThe mineThe MinerA MinerSmoko in the MineMiner at SmokoRepairsCheck outStart DiggingThe EntranceThe ClimbMiner in thoughtAustralia Outback and Lightning Ridge Opals the churchAustralia Outback and Lightning Ridge Opals the churchCowboy Jimmy a MinerFace of a ShearerA ShearerThe ShearerKelpie the working dogDrover and CockyCocky PosingDrovingThe Engine Boys ToysJust SmokoOn the StandShearing the JumbuckShearer Jumbuck and SmokeShearer and JumbuckIn the ShedHard Yakkahard Yakka on the StandShearer Yakka with the JumbuckThe DroverCocky PosingYakka on the StandBroomy in the ShedBroomy and yakka at the TableCocky restingCocky and flea Taxis KelpiesAt the TableChecking the Wool at the TableYakkaOn the tableTransportA LocalLocal Art at Broken HillThe Gum
The above article is a good article and is an indicative parallel to the broader issues of global racism. The issues outlined in the article are issues that Americans should be able to relate to. Australia generally has little tolerance towards the Aboriginal community and yet exploits the historical track for purely commercial reasons. Growing up under the white Australia policy we never mentioned our neighbours and were taught little about one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. We certainly never went to the same school or sat next to them at a cinema and continually still joke about how ill kept they are and their drinking habits. The issue with many Australian academics is that they are products of history most having grown up under the white Australia policy, we are our fathers. While travelling in the outback I heard a woman shopkeeper say ‘an Aboriginal woman came in here this morning, she was very nice and really polite’. Why wouldn’t she be what was the shopkeeper expecting to be mugged? Australian Academia does not have a silver bullet more like a smoking gun. This country of immigrants still dislikes diversity in most of its forms. The surface practical issues can be cleaned up and like justice seen to be done but the deep rooted psychological issues inherited from our forefathers takes time and is harder to banish.
At sometime whether Aboriginal or European it is necessary to ring-fence but also to look beyond our own cultures.
It could be a parallel for Brexit. We still dislike difference we still distrust diversity without really knowing why an insecurity that Australia and the world must face at sometime if we are to survive as an educated, enlightened species. We must also find ways to not forget but to forgive the past or next we will be prosecuting the descendents of Alexander the Great for his misdemeanors of 323 BC.
The featured image by photographer Shane Aurousseau could be called ‘Which way to Look Now’.
Sarah Goodall Deputy Head of Mission Australian Embassy of Athens Greece opening the Athens exhibition of works by Aussie photographer artist Shane Aurousseau. The exhibition of images taken around the sheep breeding region of Condobolin central NSW and based on the poem by AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ the setting for the poem being the overflow on the Lachlan river at Condobolin.AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson also attributed ‘The Man from Snowy River’ and ‘Waltzing Matilda. The exhibition supported by the Australian Embassy of Athens and sponsored by Canadian investment company Syracuse Main Inc. and the fine art paper company Innova art.
Exhibition in Athens Greece by Australian Artist Photographer Shane Aurousseau
Opening 15th September Ianos Café The exhibition on 1 5/9/2016 at 20:30 with musical quartet Jazz.
Supported by Australian Embassy of Athens
Sponsors
Below: Link to article on Exhibition of work by Artist Photographer Shane Aurousseau Athens.
The link below also carries a potted history of “Banjo” Paterson the creator of “Clancy of the Overflow” “The Man from Snowy River” and “Waltzing Matilda”
IANOS Canadian investment company «Syracuse Main, Inc.) and Innova fine art paper proudly present at IANOS CAFÉ a photography exhibition by Australian Photographer Artist Shane Aurousseau. A photographic journey through the sheep breeding region of Condobolin Central New South Wales and the vast rural areas of Australia where his lens recorded the hard work (“hard Yakka” in Aussie speak) of Australian sheep shearers collecting the finest micron wool in the world from Merino sheep.
The exhibition on 1 5/9/2016 at 20:30 with musical quartet Jazz.
Duration: September 15 – October 1 5, 2016.
With the support of the Australian Embassy in Athens
Sponsored by: Syracuse Main, Inc.
INNOVA Fine Art paper
About the exhibition
Condobolin (Central NSW) on the Lachlan River, the Overflow on the Lachlan is the setting for the poem ” Clancy of the Overflow ” by “Banjo Paterson”, one of the most important works in Australian literature. Banjo Paterson also the author of “The Man from Snowy River” and “Waltzing Matilda”, The Man from Snowy River was the basis for two movies one a Hollywood blockbuster.
Click below link to article on the exhibition and Shane Aurousseau: –
Shane Aurousseau an Australian photographer who has worked as a creative director and photographer in some of the largest advertising agencies in the world, in Sydney, Amsterdam and London and for clients such as Time Magazine, Time Life Books, Michelin, Chrysler, the AA (Automobile Association) and some of the leading bank and investment funds in the world.
He has designed CD covers and produced photographs for major record label companies promoting well known international artists including one Eurovision winner. His works have been published in magazines in London and around the world. His images of London have been used on posters and postcards marketed throughout the capital city including the main tourist shops of London’s dynamic West End. He has exhibited his works in London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid (Madrid sponsored by the ‘American Women’s Association’).
He currently lives in London. He studied art, photography and psychology in Australia and Britain. Shane travels regularly photographing the world we live in and its incredible diversity of life. His works reflect the entire spectrum of life in deprived neighborhoods of large cities, social commentary, landscapes and life in remote, rural areas of Australia, portraits of friends and strangers
His photographs can be described as journalistic. In recent years much of his time is spent in the Australian Outback capturing the hard work (‘hard Yakka’ in shearing OZ speak) of the ‘sheep shearers’ and’ miners’ in the gold and Opel fields of New South Wales.
‘IANOS CAFÉ’ Exhibition of work by Photographer Artist Shane Aurousseau
Photography exhibition
IANOS and Canadian investment company «Syracuse Main, Inc. and Innova Fine Art Paper proudly present at IANOS CAFÉ a photography exhibition by Australian Photographer Artist Shane Aurousseau. A photographic journey through the sheep breeding region of Condobolin Central New South Wales and the vast rural areas of Australia where his lens recorded the hard work ( in Australian,” hard Yakka) of Australian sheep shearers collecting the wool from the world famous Merino sheep.
The exhibition on 1 5/9/2016 at 20:30 with musical quartet Jazz.
Duration: September 15 – October 1 5, 2016.
With the support of the Australian Embassy in Athens
Sponsored by: Syracuse Main, Inc.
Innova Fine Art paper
About the exhibition and the artist:
Condobolin (Central NSW) on the Lachlan River, is the setting for the poem ” Clancy of the Overflow ” by Banjo Paterson, one of the most important works in Australian literature. Banjo Paterson also the author of “The Man from Snowy River” and “Waltzing Matilda”, The Man from Snowy River was the basis for two movies one a Hollywood blockbuster.
Shane Aurousseau an Australian photographer who has worked as a creative director and photographer in some of the largest advertising agencies in the world, in Sydney, Amsterdam and London and for clients such as Time Magazine, Time Life Books, Michelin, Chrysler, the AA (Automobile Association) and some of the leading bank and investment funds in the world.
He has designed CD covers and produced photographs for major record label companies promoting well known international artists including one Eurovision winner. His works have been published in magazines in London and around the world. His images of London have been used on posters and postcards marketed throughout the capital city including the main tourist shops of London’s dynamic West End. He has exhibited his works in London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid (Madrid sponsored by the ‘American Women’s Association’).
He currently lives in London. He studied art, photography and psychology in Australia and Britain. Shane travels regularly photographing the world we live in and its incredible diversity of life. His works reflect the entire spectrum of life in deprived neighborhoods of large cities, social commentary, landscapes and life in remote, rural areas of Australia, portraits of friends and strangers
His photographs can be described as journalistic. In recent years much of his time is spent in the Australian Outback capturing the hard work (‘hard Yakka’ in shearing OZ speak) of the ‘sheep shearers’ and’ miners’ in the gold and Opel fields of New South Wales.
Images Shane Aurousseau
