Initiators

Initiators

Dr. Kristian Häggblom

Häggblom’s curatorial interests are inspired by transdisciplinary art practices and new modes of documentary making. When Häggblom first moved to Japan in 1999 he co- founded/curated RoomSpace gallery in Omoide Yokocho, Shinjuku, Tokyo. While studying in Tasmania, he received an Exhibition Development Grant from CAST, to curate the cross-cultural Japanese Australian exhibition Paper Bridges which was part of Ten days on the Island festival in 2005. Since this inauguration, Häggblom has curated several large-scale exhibitions that have included the work of French photographer Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, Melbourne-based sound artist Philip Samartzis and Japanese artist group Chim↑Pom. When Häggblom permanently relocated back to Australia, he co-founded and was head curator of Wallflower Photomedia Gallery that was located in Mildura, Victoria. The gallery exhibited work from all over Australia, Japan, Finland, America, Canada, Italy, Mexico, England, Poland and Germany, in addition to showcasing work in obscure non-gallery locations such as a motel and prison through Mildura Palimpsest Biennale. More recently, Häggblom curated Tsuka: an exhibition of contemporary Japanese photography at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne and is presently the Higher Education Course Director and MA Course Convener at Photography Studies College, Melbourne.

Dr. Kristian Häggblom

Häggblom’s curatorial interests are inspired by transdisciplinary art practices and new modes of documentary making. When Häggblom first moved to Japan in 1999 he co- founded/curated RoomSpace gallery in Omoide Yokocho, Shinjuku, Tokyo. While studying in Tasmania, he received an Exhibition Development Grant from CAST, to curate the cross-cultural Japanese Australian exhibition Paper Bridges which was part of Ten days on the Island festival in 2005. Since this inauguration, Häggblom has curated several large-scale exhibitions that have included the work of French photographer Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, Melbourne-based sound artist Philip Samartzis and Japanese artist group Chim↑Pom. When Häggblom permanently relocated back to Australia, he co-founded and was head curator of Wallflower Photomedia Gallery that was located in Mildura, Victoria. The gallery exhibited work from all over Australia, Japan, Finland, America, Canada, Italy, Mexico, England, Poland and Germany, in addition to showcasing work in obscure non-gallery locations such as a motel and prison through Mildura Palimpsest Biennale. More recently, Häggblom curated Tsuka: an exhibition of contemporary Japanese photography at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne and is presently the Higher Education Course Director and MA Course Convener at Photography Studies College, Melbourne.

Dr. Saad Alsharrah

Alsharrah is a researcher and documentary photographer based between Kuwait and Melbourne, Australia. His current interests include using geospatial technologies for visual narratives and long-form expanded documentary methods to depict complex histories and cross-cultural livelihoods.

Dr. Saad Alsharrah

Alsharrah is a researcher and documentary photographer based between Kuwait and Melbourne, Australia. His current interests include using geospatial technologies for visual narratives and long-form expanded documentary methods to depict complex histories and cross-cultural livelihoods.

Co-curator

Co-curator

Stephanie Rose Wood

Stephanie Rose Wood is a Naarm/ Melbourne-based British collaborative, community-centred storyteller (and question asker). Her work enables narrative expression through documentary photography, education, and curation. Her creative practice is research-driven and explores the complex interconnections between community, ritual, and the psychology of belief.

Stephanie documents the communities around her, discovering stories that are hidden in plain sight. She has an interest in the relationship between photography and text and adapting modes of storytelling across different platforms and audiences.

Stephanie is the Undergraduate Course Convenor of the Bachelor Degree at Photography Studies College (Melbourne) and teaches documentary photography.

Advisors

Stephanie Rose Wood

Rose Wood is a Naarm/ Melbourne-based British collaborative, community-centred storyteller (and question asker). Her work enables narrative expression through documentary photography, education, and curation. Her creative practice is research-driven and explores the complex interconnections between community, ritual, and the psychology of belief.

Stephanie documents the communities around her, discovering stories that are hidden in plain sight. She has an interest in the relationship between photography and text and adapting modes of storytelling across different platforms and audiences.

Stephanie is the Undergraduate Course Convenor of the Bachelor Degree at Photography Studies College (Melbourne) and teaches documentary photography.

Advisors

Ken Nishikawa

A filmmaker, composer, radio DJ and a son of a geisha, Nishikawa began his career at the BBC in London. After moving to Tokyo, Ken hosted many a radio programme in Japan and the UK. Ken directed and presented a documentary film “Matsuchiyo – Life of a Geisha” which world-premiered at Raindance in 2018. Ken is currently a member of a Belgo-Japanese electronic music duo Nivatak and the chimpo of a Tokyo-based record label Cathrach.

Brie Trenerry

Trenerry is a Melbourne-based interdisciplinary artist and curator with a focus on the moving image and new media who has exhibited extensively both in Australia and internationally. Trenerry is currently completing her PhD, which explores altered states of consciousness and collaboration as generative strategies for an expanded cinema. Trenerry has been the recipient of residencies at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide 2015, the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA), Contemporary Creative Residency via the University of Sydney 2018, KdMoFA (Kuandu Museum of Fine Art) and NUA (Taiwan National University of the Arts, RMIT:ART:INTERSECT 2019. Trenerry is the video curator at MARS gallery in Melbourne, Australia.

Helen Vivian

Vivian is a curator, writer, publisher and editor with thirty years of independent practice. She was co-founder of Artmoves Inc. a not-for-profit association that focused on supporting and promoting women’s art and artists between 1988 and 2000. She was the co/curator of Mildura Palimpsest in 2009 and 2011. Vivian has worked on two important publications: editing Interceptions: Art, Science and Land in Sunraysia (2000) and she wrote When You Think About Art: the Ewing and George Paton Galleries 1971 – 2008 (2008).

Ken Nishikawa

A filmmaker, composer, radio DJ and a son of a geisha, Nishikawa began his career at the BBC in London. After moving to Tokyo, Ken hosted many a radio programme in Japan and the UK. Ken directed and presented a documentary film “Matsuchiyo – Life of a Geisha” which world-premiered at Raindance in 2018. Ken is currently a member of a Belgo-Japanese electronic music duo Nivatak and the chimpo of a Tokyo-based record label Cathrach.

Brie Trenerry

Trenerry is a Melbourne-based interdisciplinary artist and curator with a focus on the moving image and new media who has exhibited extensively both in Australia and internationally. Trenerry is currently completing her PhD, which explores altered states of consciousness and collaboration as generative strategies for an expanded cinema. Trenerry has been the recipient of residencies at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide 2015, the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA), Contemporary Creative Residency via the University of Sydney 2018, KdMoFA (Kuandu Museum of Fine Art) and NUA (Taiwan National University of the Arts, RMIT:ART:INTERSECT 2019. Trenerry is the video curator at MARS gallery in Melbourne, Australia.

Helen Vivian

Vivian is a curator, writer, publisher and editor with thirty years of independent practice. She was co-founder of Artmoves Inc. a not-for-profit association that focused on supporting and promoting women’s art and artists between 1988 and 2000. She was the co/curator of Mildura Palimpsest in 2009 and 2011. Vivian has worked on two important publications: editing Interceptions: Art, Science and Land in Sunraysia (2000) and she wrote When You Think About Art: the Ewing and George Paton Galleries 1971 – 2008 (2008).

Research / Content

Madeleine Sherburn

Sherburn is a Narrm (Melbourne)-based artist whose creative practice focuses on the relationship between the spectator, space and place, through photography, video, installation and text as the acting medium. She is also interested in the intersection between art, ecology and horticulture.

Aziz Alrabea

Alrabea is a photographer and printmaker based in Kuwait. His emphasis is on analogue photography, its technical aspects and on alternative printing with extensive experiences at Cairo and Khemia’e Darkrooms. He is a lead collaborator with Khemia’e Darkroom and kuwait-based researcher for Speculative Horizons.

Kaede James Takamoto

Kaede James Takamoto is a Japanese-Australian photographer based in Naarm (Melbourne) and is the daughter of two sculptors. As a child she was surrounded by art which has heavily impacted her way of seeing and making. James Takamoto’s practice utilises an experimental approach with a focus on belonging, history, and place and often aims to give a voice to the underrepresented in contemporary society. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from Monash University (MADA) and Bachelor of Photography at Photography Studies College, Melbourne.

Research / Content

Madeleine Sherburn

Sherburn is a Narrm (Melbourne)-based artist whose creative practice focuses on the relationship between the spectator, space and place, through photography, video, installation and text as the acting medium. She is also interested in the intersection between art, ecology and horticulture.

Aziz Alrabea

Alrabea is a photographer and printmaker based in Kuwait. His emphasis is on analogue photography, its technical aspects and on alternative printing with extensive experiences at Cairo and Khemia’e Darkrooms. He is a lead collaborator with Khemia’e Darkroom and kuwait-based researcher for Speculative Horizons.

Kaede James Takamoto

James Takamoto is a Japanese-Australian photographer based in Naarm (Melbourne) and is the daughter of two sculptors. As a child she was surrounded by art which has heavily impacted her way of seeing and making. James Takamoto’s practice utilises an experimental approach with a focus on belonging, history, and place and often aims to give a voice to the underrepresented in contemporary society. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from Monash University (MADA) and Bachelor of Photography at Photography Studies College, Melbourne.

Ambassadors

Hajime Kimura

Kimura is a Japanese photographer born in 1982. He was raised in the Chiba prefecture just outside Tokyo. Having studied architecture and anthropology at university, he began his career in 2006. In 2019, a photo book “Snowflakes Dog Man” was published from CEIBA edition, “Mišo Bukumirović” from Reminders Photography Stronghold as a hand-made edition in 2020 and “Correspondence” was co-published from the (M) éditions and Ibasho gallery in 2022. Recently, he has been working on some projects with the theme of “certainty of memory” in Serbia and Japan.

Jesse Marlow

Marlow is an Australian based photographer. His works are held in public and private collections across Australia including the National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Parliament House Canberra and the Monash Gallery of Art. In 2005, he published a book of street photographs, Wounded, (Sling Shot Press). In 2006, he was selected to participate in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam. While in 2010, Marlow was one of 45 photographers from around the world profiled in Street Photography Now (Thames & Hudson). He was awarded the International Street Photographer of the Year Award in 2011, and in 2012 won the Monash Gallery of Art’s Bowness Prize. Marlow released his third monograph, Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them in 2014. In the same year, he was profiled in the Thames & Hudson book, The World Atlas of Street Photography. In 2021, Marlow published his 4th monograph Second City (Sling Shot Press). In 2022, Marlow was commissioned by the Australian Architecture firm Architectus to produce a book celebrating the 21st anniversary of their practice. Marlow is a Leica ambassador and is a member of the photographic collective UP Photographers.

Ambassadors

Hajime Kimura

Kimura is a Japanese photographer born in 1982. He was raised in the Chiba prefecture just outside Tokyo. Having studied architecture and anthropology at university, he began his career in 2006. In 2019, a photo book “Snowflakes Dog Man” was published from CEIBA edition, “Mišo Bukumirović” from Reminders Photography Stronghold as a hand-made edition in 2020 and “Correspondence” was co-published from the (M) éditions and Ibasho gallery in 2022. Recently, he has been working on some projects with the theme of “certainty of memory” in Serbia and Japan.

Jesse Marlow

Marlow is an Australian based photographer. His works are held in public and private collections across Australia including the National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Parliament House Canberra and the Monash Gallery of Art. In 2005, he published a book of street photographs, Wounded, (Sling Shot Press). In 2006, he was selected to participate in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam. While in 2010, Marlow was one of 45 photographers from around the world profiled in Street Photography Now (Thames & Hudson). He was awarded the International Street Photographer of the Year Award in 2011, and in 2012 won the Monash Gallery of Art’s Bowness Prize. Marlow released his third monograph, Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them in 2014. In the same year, he was profiled in the Thames & Hudson book, The World Atlas of Street Photography. In 2021, Marlow published his 4th monograph Second City (Sling Shot Press). In 2022, Marlow was commissioned by the Australian Architecture firm Architectus to produce a book celebrating the 21st anniversary of their practice. Marlow is a Leica ambassador and is a member of the photographic collective UP Photographers.