CCP turns 30, and aims for 40

The Centre of Contemporary Photography (CCP) in Melbourne turns 30 this year and to celebrate its hosting a fundraising exhibition to help secure the organisation’s future.

Anne Zahalka, Untitled (Road to Zagora) 2015 archival pigment print onrag paper, museum glass, framed 66.6 x 100cm. Edition 1 of 5, courtesy the artist and ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne. Source: CCP

Anne Zahalka, Untitled (Road to Zagora) 2015
archival pigment print onrag paper, museum glass, framed 66.6 x 100cm. Edition 1 of 5,
courtesy the artist and ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne. Source: CCP

Over 70 upcoming and well-established professional photographers and videographers from across Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and the US donated works, all who worked alongside CCP at some stage in their careers.

‘CCP has been really integral in helping me develop my career in terms of giving me a solo survey exhibition, in 2007, of all my portrait work (Hall of Mirrors 1987-2007),’ said Australian contemporary photographer, Anne Zahalka, to ArchitectureAU. ‘CCP are doing really exciting and ambitious exhibitions that don’t have to conform to any commercial imperative. They are broadening creative possibilities and allowing photographers to work in a much expanded field, which extends the definition of photographic art.’

Prints by Zahalka, John Gollings, Tracey Moffatt, Patrick Pound, Wolfgang Sievers, Christian Thompson, Les Walkling, Simryn Gill, and countless others are scattered throughout the exhibition catalogue, with prices ranging from $150 to $8000.

Naomi Cass, CCP director, told the Sydney Morning Herald that educating photographers and the general public by running workshops and exhibiting a wide array of photography, that’s both beautiful and challenging, has been a primary focus of the organisation. For 30 years it has acted as a platform between artists in many stages of their careers and a wider audience.

‘For 30 years CCP and artists have together been wrangling the thrilling and sometimes challenging task of exhibiting, teaching and advocating for photography and video and in doing so, engaging a broad swathe of audiences in lens-based art,’ said Cass, who has steered the organisation for 13 years, in the catalog. ‘Established in 1986 by the photographic community, the Victorian Centre for Photography began as an exhibition space and resource centre. Over the intervening period, CCP has played a pivotal role in the support of photo-based arts and the rise of photography and video as art forms.’

There’s also an underlying urgency to this milestone fundraiser exhibition.

It’s mentioned several times on the CCP website that the fundraiser is destined to propel CCP into a secure financial future.

This cannot be more true – it was revealed earlier this year that key funding from the Australia Council has dried up. The organisation, along with the Sydney equivalent, Australian Centre for Photography, have been left to fend for themselves.

The organisation is also inviting individuals, businesses and organisations to donate.

Click here to see the catalog. CCP’s 30th Anniversary Fundraiser exhibition runs from July 22 – July 30 at CCP, 404 George Street, Fitzroy.


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