General News
19 November, 2024
In Solitude: exploring the work of Ian Kemp
The Central Goldfields Art Gallery will display the emotions of loneliness and life through still images with their latest exhibition.
Titled In Solitude, the showcase displays the photographs of Ballarat resident Ian Kemp who lived in Maryborough for a quarter of a century where he was vice principal at Maryborough Education Centre.
Knowing “absolutely nothing” about photography, Mr Kemp joined the Maryborough Camera Club back in 2012 where he said his love for the art form blossomed.
“I thought I was going to be doing some travelling and I wanted to be able to take some half-decent shots in my travels and I originally had no more ambition than that,” he said.
“I had really good people like Nola Tidyman who took classes for beginners like myself — being a vice principal here and going back to being a student was a reverse which I really got into.
“Once I started learning things at the camera club, I decided I wanted to take it further so I did four years of part-time study at Photography Studies College in Melbourne and graduated in 2017.
“When it came to my fourth year of study, I got a choice between fine art, commercial or photojournalism and for me, it was always going to be fine art because that allowed me to explore concepts visually.”
Ever since he graduated seven years ago, Mr Kemp’s hobby continues to grow with four solo exhibitions across Victoria in the second half of this year alone.
Mr Kemp said his motivation for photography mainly comes from his passion to express themes with images.
“The biggest thing is the creative component to fine art photography of taking a concept and trying to show that visually, without words that’s quite hard,” he said.
“My wife died in 2010, I had two years of a fair bit of solitude which I don’t see as a negative, it was about me sorting out what my life was going to be like as a single person.
“It’s one thing to take a single photo of something and get a nice shot, it’s another to have a concept you want to shoot and find the content that’s going to show that.”
Mr Kemp said being able to showcase his art to residents of his former hometown makes his upcoming exhibition extra special.
“Coming here to show work is good for me, to come back with something different from what people who remember me might expect is quite intriguing in itself,” he said.
“I’ve lived a third of my life here so to come back and show where I’m at now is really important.
“It also pays homage to the camera club because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Central Goldfields Art Gallery coordinator Helen Kaptein said she is excited for residents to experience the gallery’s newest showcase.
“We are very pleased to have Ian Kemp’s work exhibited because of the nature of his work and also his strong connection to Maryborough and its surrounds,” she said.
“The topic of being In Solitude is one that all people will connect with and the way that Ian explores that topic is something that we can relate to.
“A lot of people are going to know Ian as a resident and dedicated education professional and it’s a lovely connection to our Emergent exhibition which is highlighting the work of secondary students in the region.”
The In Solitude exhibition will officially open this Saturday, November 23 at 2 pm at the Central Goldfields Art Gallery.