Charles Page (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Charles Page is a Brisbane
-based documentary photographer, and lecturer at the Queensland College of Art
, He studied at Griffith University
where he got a PhD.
. After working as a photographer in Melbourne for several years, he moved to Queensland to take up a lecturing position with the Queensland College of Art. In 2003 he was awarded a PhD (By Publication) by Griffith University for his photographic achievements.
Page's photography extends from documenting the mundane to the extremes of human life. Over an extensive career, Page has photographed in more than 70 countries, notably Chechnya, Somalia and Antarctica, covering themes as varied as War Photography
, Nature Photography
, Portrait Photography
, and the nude.
Page's work has been exhibited in a number solo and group exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including Australian Antarctic Division
, Australian Parliament House, Australian War Memorial
(Canberra
), International Committee of the Red Cross
(Geneva), the Queensland Art Gallery
(QAG List of Artists), and the National Library of Australia
.
Construction Authority Art Acquisitions Committee to produce a folio of photographs based on the construction of the new Australian Parliament House, Canberra. Images from this commission can be found in Picture Australia and the National Library of Australia
, as well as images from Australian Antarctic Territory
, Boggo Road Goal, construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway, 2003, and 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
in Somalia .
In 1988, he was one of six photographers commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery and the Australian Bicentennial Authority to document Queensland community life. The project, which culminated in the exhibition Journey's North at the Queensland Art Gallery, aimed to encourage achievement and appreciation of contemporary art photography, as much as to celebrate and record the richness and diversity of community life in the late 1980s.
1967-99 An extensive project to document the decline of steam locomotion in rail transportation. The project involved all Australian states;
1993 Photographed in the Antarctic
under the auspices of ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) (Australian Arctic Arts Fellowship). The project addressed environmental issues, the removal of the last Australian Huskies and the Antarctic Landscape. Images from this project are displayed at Mawson Base, Antarctica.;
1972-2002 An extensive project to document photographically the decline of steam locomotion. The project also addressed the sociological implications brought about by this evolution in technology. The project concentrated on the following countries:
1972 South Africa
, Rhodesia
, Swaziland
, Europe
;
1978 China
, India
, Malaysia;
1980 India, Pakistan
;
1999 Western China, Inner Mongolia
;
2001 the Forest railways of Manchuria
, Northern China;
2002 Western China, Heavy Industrial sites and operational Steam Trains;
1992 Photographed in Pakistan and Afghanistan
the operations of the International Committee of Red Cross. This project concentrated on I.C.R.C. activities concerned with the Afghanistan War;
1993 Photographed in Malawi
, Mozambique
and Somalia
. A number of images from Somalia are included in the collection of the Australian War Memorial. Page was one of only two photographers to record the convoy from the port of Mogadishu to Baidoa by members of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) and a United States convoy of troops. ( Australian War Memorial Collection) ;
1995 & 1996 Photographed in Chechnya
(Russian Federation) under the auspices of the International Committee of Red Cross. This project concentrated on ICRC activities concerned with the Chechnyan conflict;
2000 & 2003 documented five Ipswich
communities in the following geographical locations, Australia, U.S.A.[2], the U.K. and Jamaica;
2005 Documented the environmentally disastrous Saemangeum
reclamation project in South Korea. For more information see Saemangeum reference page from Birds Korea
Charles J. Page (2007). Cross Section. The documentary photography of Charles Page. Horsham Regional Art Gallery. ISBN 97809803148-1-6 [pbk].
Charles J. Page (2003).Visible traces of another life : the photography of Charles John Page 1966-2003: exhibition catalogue. Rockhampton, Qld: Rockhampton Art Gallery.
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
-based documentary photographer, and lecturer at the Queensland College of Art
Queensland College of Art
The Queensland College of Art is a specialist arts and design college located in South Bank, Brisbane, and Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It was founded in 1881 and is the oldest arts institution in Australia....
, He studied at Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
where he got a PhD.
Biography
Page, described by Merle Hathaway, Director of the Horsham Regional Art Gallery, as "one of Australia's best itinerant documentary photographers",http://www.horsham.net.au/gallery/exhibiti.htm began photographing in his early teens. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Photography) in 1981 from the Royal Melbourne Institute of TechnologyRMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
. After working as a photographer in Melbourne for several years, he moved to Queensland to take up a lecturing position with the Queensland College of Art. In 2003 he was awarded a PhD (By Publication) by Griffith University for his photographic achievements.
Page's photography extends from documenting the mundane to the extremes of human life. Over an extensive career, Page has photographed in more than 70 countries, notably Chechnya, Somalia and Antarctica, covering themes as varied as War Photography
War photography
War photography captures photographs of armed conflict and life in war-torn areas.Although photographs can provide a more direct representation than paintings or drawings, they are sometimes manipulated, creating an image that is not objectively journalistic.-History:Photography, presented to the...
, Nature Photography
Nature photography
Nature photography refers to a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures...
, Portrait Photography
Portrait photography
Portrait photography or portraiture is the capture by means of photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people , in which the face and expression is predominant. The objective is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the subject...
, and the nude.
Page's work has been exhibited in a number solo and group exhibitions, both in Australia and overseas. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including Australian Antarctic Division
Australian Antarctic Division
The Australian Antarctic Division is an agency of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean...
, Australian Parliament House, Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
(Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
), International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
(Geneva), the Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland Art Gallery
The Queensland Art Gallery is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre, and is located nearest to Brisbane River at South Bank...
(QAG List of Artists), and the National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
.
Commissions
From 1984 to 1986 Page was one of 22 Australian photographers commissioned by the New Parliament HouseParliament House, Canberra
Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia...
Construction Authority Art Acquisitions Committee to produce a folio of photographs based on the construction of the new Australian Parliament House, Canberra. Images from this commission can be found in Picture Australia and the National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
, as well as images from Australian Antarctic Territory
Australian Antarctic Territory
The Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation...
, Boggo Road Goal, construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway, 2003, and 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is a regular light infantry battalion of the Australian Army. 1 RAR was first formed as the 65th Australian Infantry Battalion in 1945 and since then has been deployed on active service during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War...
in Somalia .
In 1988, he was one of six photographers commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery and the Australian Bicentennial Authority to document Queensland community life. The project, which culminated in the exhibition Journey's North at the Queensland Art Gallery, aimed to encourage achievement and appreciation of contemporary art photography, as much as to celebrate and record the richness and diversity of community life in the late 1980s.
Projects
Page's national and international projects include:1967-99 An extensive project to document the decline of steam locomotion in rail transportation. The project involved all Australian states;
1993 Photographed in the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
under the auspices of ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) (Australian Arctic Arts Fellowship). The project addressed environmental issues, the removal of the last Australian Huskies and the Antarctic Landscape. Images from this project are displayed at Mawson Base, Antarctica.;
1972-2002 An extensive project to document photographically the decline of steam locomotion. The project also addressed the sociological implications brought about by this evolution in technology. The project concentrated on the following countries:
1972 South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
;
1978 China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Malaysia;
1980 India, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
;
1999 Western China, Inner Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
;
2001 the Forest railways of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, Northern China;
2002 Western China, Heavy Industrial sites and operational Steam Trains;
1992 Photographed in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
the operations of the International Committee of Red Cross. This project concentrated on I.C.R.C. activities concerned with the Afghanistan War;
1993 Photographed in Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. A number of images from Somalia are included in the collection of the Australian War Memorial. Page was one of only two photographers to record the convoy from the port of Mogadishu to Baidoa by members of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) and a United States convoy of troops. ( Australian War Memorial Collection) ;
1995 & 1996 Photographed in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
(Russian Federation) under the auspices of the International Committee of Red Cross. This project concentrated on ICRC activities concerned with the Chechnyan conflict;
2000 & 2003 documented five Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
communities in the following geographical locations, Australia, U.S.A.[2], the U.K. and Jamaica;
2005 Documented the environmentally disastrous Saemangeum
Saemangeum
Saemangeum is an estuarine tidal flat on the coast of the Yellow Sea in South Korea. It was dammed by the government of South Korea's Saemangeum Seawall Project, completed in April 2006, after a long fight between the government and environmental activists, and is scheduled to be converted into...
reclamation project in South Korea. For more information see Saemangeum reference page from Birds Korea
Publications
Charles J. Page (2007). The Crystal Desert. Antarctic Photographs. ISBN 9780980314809 [hbk].Charles J. Page (2007). Cross Section. The documentary photography of Charles Page. Horsham Regional Art Gallery. ISBN 97809803148-1-6 [pbk].
Charles J. Page (2003).Visible traces of another life : the photography of Charles John Page 1966-2003: exhibition catalogue. Rockhampton, Qld: Rockhampton Art Gallery.