NEW MEMBERS TAKING OCULI COLLECTIVE IN NEW DIRECTIONS IN DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AND STORY-TELLING
Oculi has added three new members to the Australian based photographic collective- Matthew Abbott, John Feely, Alana Holmberg.
Oculi photographer Dean Sewell, a co-founding member of the collective said, "Our new inductees represent perhaps, the single, most significant intake of photographers into the ranks of Oculi this decade. Not only have we identified some of the most promising emerging talent in the land, but have positioned ourselves for the years ahead in remaining a relevant and leading force in the contemporary photo-documentary landscape."
Alana Holmberg said, “Joining Oculi is a huge honour, I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to contribute to the future direction of a collective that has done so much for Australian documentary photography, alongside photographers who have influenced my own practice.”
Matthew Abbott said, "I have long admired the Oculi collective’s role in showcasing the best of Australian documentary storytelling and its consequential contribution to Australia’s photographic cultural identity. As someone committed to long form Australian stories I feel there is no better platform than the Oculi collective to present my vision, I am thrilled to be involved"
John Feely said, “Ever since I have been interested in photography Oculi have been an inspiration and the benchmark in Australian documentary photography. To be invited to contribute to this legacy is a great honour. Furthermore, to be given the opportunity to share, collaborate and learn within the collective pushes the boundaries of what is possible in the future. To be invited to be part of the Oculi collective is in essence to be asked to contribute in some way to the voice and the culture of my country. The idea of contributing to a collective that has continually questioned and shaped this voice is both humbling and a great honour.”
OCULI (Latin) – vision or eyes
Oculi offers a poetic visual narrative of our times and our region through distinctive styles and perspectives. At the heart of our projects, both commissioned and personal, lies a central conviction – to reveal the beauty, wonder and struggle within everyday life; to show the extraordinary in the ordinary. Our mission is to tell visual stories with a focus on the Australia-Pacific region. In 2000, a select group of award-winning photographers, united by their commitment to documentary-storytelling, formed Oculi. Since its inception Oculi has established itself as a powerful and poetic art movement for our times and through it’s growing body of work is now seen as the leading contemporary influence in Australian photographic documentary and art practice. Oculi is an art-house photographic movement in Australia with the collective vision to expose, exhibit and promote images of contemporary culture in Australia and the surrounding region.
The history of Oculi’s membership includes some of the most prominent Australian photographers in contemporary documentary and art photography. Current members are: James Brickwood, Nick Moir, Jeremy Piper, Raphaela Rosella, Dean Sewell, David Maurice Smith, Tamara Voninski and George Voulgaropoulos. Former founding members including: Narelle Autio, Warren Clarke, Nick Cubbin, Glenn Hunt and Trent Parke. Other previous members include: Tamara Dean, Jesse Marlow, Steven Siewert, Lee Grant, Claire Martin, Andrew Quilty and Donna Bailey.
Alana Holmberg (b. 1983) is an Australian documentary photographer and writer based in Melbourne. Interested in the intersection of new media, the internet and multimedia storytelling, Alana experiments with new ways to engage audiences and forge empathy through her online photography projects. In her freelance assignments, Alana works with local and international NGO and non-profit organisations to create emotive multimedia storytelling content and experiences. To date her personal work has explored the experiences of women in relation to family, body image, technology and feminism. Alana was the 2016 recipient of The Pool Grant, an Australian grant awarded annually to a single emerging photographer, and joined Oculi the same year.
John Feely is an Australian photographer based in Sydney, Australia and Ulaanbator, Mongolia. His allegorical approach to photography is an extension of meaningful shared experiences. His work is influenced by previous careers as a behavioural advisor in public education and youth detention. He is committed to independent projects that provide him with the freedom the genuinely and deeply explore. John was named Australia's emerging photographer of the year and emerging documentary photographer of the year (Capture magazine) in 2016. His project, The Outsider was named as a pick of this years Head On Photo festival and he has been a finalist in several international portrait awards. His work has been featured in CNN photo, Geo (Europe) and others.
Matthew Abbott is a photographic artist exploring the effect of external influences on communities, and their relationship with the land that defines them. Abbotts photographs have been exhibited extensively internationally and throughout Australia, including the Centre of Contemporary Photography, Perth Centre of Contemporary Photography, MAMA Gallery – and are held in numerous public and private collections including the National Library of Australia. Abbotts portraits have been selected for The National Portrait Prize in 2012, 2015 and 2016. In 2011 he completed a Masters of Studio Arts at Sydney College of the Arts. In 2013 His project ‘On country in Arnhem Land’ Australia won the Sydney Morning Herald Documentary Photographer Award. In May 2016 an image from the series ‘The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards’ won the judges commendation at the CLIPP Prize at the PCP. Abbott also works regularly for global and national NGO's and non-profit organisations. Abbott is now focusing on long term personal art projects specialising in environmental portraiture, as he continues his series ‘The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards’ documenting the impact of global warming and the decline of communities along the Murray Darling basin in Central-Eastern Australia. His latest project “When They Sing of Australia They Never Mention the Flies” a collaborative endeavour with Photographer Lee Grant following Australia’s Highway 1, is due to be completed in 2017.