Vivid National Photography Festival was held for the first time in Canberra from
11 July to 12 October 2008.
Fifty organisations in and around Canberra collaborated to present more than 100 exhibitions — with both contemporary and historical themes — celebrating the vital role of photography in Australian life, art and history. Four years in the making, Vivid has grown to become Australia's largest photography festival.
The National Museum of Australia presented two intriguing photographic exhibitions as part of the Vivid festival.
A Different Time: The Expedition Photographs of Herbert Basedow 1903–1928
(11 July – 12 October 2008)
This remarkable man — Herbert Basedow — was an anthropologist, geologist and doctor. He took photographs of people and places he encountered, and collected objects and natural history specimens on many expeditions into central and northern Australia between 1903 and 1928.
This was the first ever exhibition of Basedow's expedition photographs and objects collected on his travels.
Selling an American Dream: Australia's Greek Café
(11 July – 16 November 2008)
Find out how American commercial food, products, cinema and popular music were introduced into Australian life through Greek cafés.
Selling an American Dream: Australia's Greek Café was developed by the In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians
National Project, Australian History Museum, Macquarie University, Sydney.
These exhibitions are part of the Vivid – National Photography Festival 2008.
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Images above (left to right):
Herbert Basedow on a riding camel named Buxton, photographed near present-day Granite Downs station in north-western South Australia on 21 April 1903. Alfred Treloar took this photograph using Basedow's camera. © National Museum of Australia.
Astoria Café interior, Hunter Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, late 1940s. Courtesy: N Raftos, from the In Their Own Image: Greek-Australians National Project Archives.
