Taking photography Head On

Opening this Friday at Bondi’s classic Pavilion, this year’s Head On Photo Festival will represent hundreds of photographers in around 100 exhibits across Sydney.

Now in its 14th year, Head On has travelled from humble origins as a protest show against the Archibald Prize photographic competition to becoming one of the world’s largest photo shows, with prize moneys totalling $70,000.

“The three main venues will be along the Bond Beach promenade, with the Pavilion being the central location, along with the Paddington Reservoir Gardens to the TAFE Ultimo which will include an exhibition of student work from the photography course there,” Moshe Rosenzveig, artistic director, Head On said.

“There are other galleries that we show at, and there is an open program spread across a number of venues.”

Head On is unusual, not only for its size and scope, but also in the way that it does a blind selection of entries, ensuring that they are chosen purely on inartistic merit without favour or prejudice.

“Through this process we have discovered a lot of new talent and launched photographers into hugely successful careers,” Rosenzvieg said.

Emmanuel Angelicas, who has exhibited sections from his ongoing Marrickville show at Sydney’s MCA, Australian Centre for Photography, NSW State Library and at shows in France, Italy, Japan and Greece, is one such photographer who has entered Head On numerous times.

Angelicas’ Marrickville is a monumental 50 year-long body of work beginning when he was seven years old photographing family and friends with a plastic camera given by his father as a birthday present.

“My parents came to this country with one suitcase full of culture, and when we were growing up, the first generations of not just Greek, but also Italian and European migrant kids, we found that we had one foot in that suitcase and one foot in this slowly setting cement that was becoming Australia,” Angelicas said.

“My family and friends were the closest around me, and it was a safe environment. Then I moved out into the streets and I was able to photograph people I met there.”

Angelicas said that his Marrickville includes the old municipality of Marrickville, and also “a playground that goes as far as the Princes Highway to the east, Parramatta Road to the west and Enmore to the south.”

Michele Aboud is a professional photographer working in the fields of commercial, fashion and portrait photography and has entered Head On a number of times.

“I’ve entered before but this is the first time that I have been accepted,” Aboud said. “I have been a judge before, so I know what it is like from the other end.”

Aboud is also a strong defender of the blind selection process.

“I think that it’s critical that you are submitting the work without any preconceptions attached,” Aboud said.

“You upload your images and you give an artist’s statement to accompany the image, and that is it, a pretty simple process.”

This year’s Head On is spreading its geographical foot print to cover much of the eastern suburbs and the City of Sydney, along with adding a school student category to its usual portrait, landscape and environmental categories.

Without federal government support, Head On is reliant on an annual hard scramble for funds and the services of volunteers in most positions.

“One source is from Create NSW, and the other is through sponsorship, though this has been tough this year due to the economic situation,” Rosenzveig said.

“We also have support from Woollhara Council, Waverley Council, and we have a long relationship with the City of Sydney.”

For the first time, this year will see Randwick Council sponsor a screening of the Lonka Project of Jewish life in Eastern European villages at the outbreak of the Second World War.

It is estimated that the 2023 Head On Photo Festival, which launches at Bondi Pavilion Friday November 10, will attract over 400,00 visitors across its 22 days.

November 10 – December 3

headon.org.au