All About Photo

George Schwarz’s oeuvre goes beyond the genre of autobiography to touch on universal themes of human experience- sex, death and the unconscious. Schwarz’s PHOTO-RETRO exhibition challenges prevailing canons and histories of Australian photography. Shown as a collection spanning over four decades, Schwarz’s images operate as vehicles across the structures of time and memory. They resonate with sensuality, pathos and humour. Often at odds to prevailing tastes, Schwarz captures images in colour with painterly complex compositions with a rich archaeological content. The collage of objects and unexpected amalgamations of visual influences create surreal layers of meaning, blurring the line between the real and symbolic, life and art. “I would like you to absorb these images the same ways as you might listen in a concert, giving ourselves to the sounds and images it creates before us. Experiences, emotions and sensations (are) seldom used or half remembered. Let the images work on you.” –...