Ricky Maynard: Portrait of a Distant Land

Editorial

Documentary photographer Ricky Maynard has turned the camera on his own people - the Ben Lomond and Cape Portland people of Tasmania - documenting their lives and locations which hold cultural or historical meaning. With labels extensively explaining the shots' significance, Maynard's work builds a rich personal narrative and reflection of his own life, and though he does not appear in the photographs, his narrator's presence is felt in all of them.

As Maynard himself asserts, "For me, photographs have always been personal and I hope to convey the intimacy of a diary. Photography has the ability to tell stories about the world and how the photograph has power to frame a culture."

The Museum of Contemporary Art is housing a major retrospective of his work, with more than 60 photographs from six of his celebrated series'. Maynard's work has been extensively exhibited and celebrated both here and abroad, with his last major international exhibition taking place in 2007 as part of the inaugural Photoquai festival at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

Accompanying Portrait of a Distant Land is an adjoining exhibit curated by Maynard himself, displaying the works of photographers that have influenced his own practice.

Julianne Gill