The Ballarat International Foto Biennale

Last weekend I headed up to Ballarat which is a regional town about an hour and half's drive from Melbourne in Australia.

The reason I went is why I go once every two years which is the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. During this photography festival there is somewhere around 80 or so photography exhibitions scattered across the town. These range from curated international artists - Liu Bolin being the headliner, through to the 'open' section which is just that open to anyone with the motivation to organise something . As you can imagine the expect can be a little hit and miss, but that is all part of the fun of a weekend wandering around various places seeing photos.

And that is also part of the charm, the bigger exhibitions are in proper galleries but a lot of it is in cafes, shops, alleyways, and this year a couple of churches, and observatory, a greenhouse and countless historic buildings. For those playing at home Ballarat was the scene of Australia's biggest gold rush in the mid 1800's so most of the buildings are from this time.

So what I'm going to share with you today is some of the art in unusual places:

This was an Amazing exhibition call 'To the Moon and back' all about the space programs around the world the main image here by Vincent Fournier place in the grounds of Ballarat's old Observatory buildings.

There are a lot of outside exhibitions in laneways - which is interesting because the official curated art (this one by Hayden Fowler from NZ) mixes with the unofficial graffiti of the town.

One of the most unusual settings for some art was 'Give us this day' which placed the work of Vanessa Winship (UK) picutred below first and Lauren Greenfield (USA, below second) in two churches. Particularly striking was the contrast in style of the classic religious artwork and the contemporary photography focused on female body image.

This exhibition of street photogrpahy by Hody Hong was housed in the narrowest little laneway I think I'd every been in.

Whereas this work from Australian Sally Mckay took on a different meaning from far away than up close.

And finally, where would you exhibit photos of nature reclaiming objects - well if you are Poland's Diana Lelonek then it would be in a glasshouse of plants of course.

If you are nearby to Ballarat you have until October 20th to check out the Biennale - or you know we will see you in 2021.