Head On Festival

One of the country’s most renowned photographic festivals launches with two striking exhibitions in the Inner West – one in Marrickville and one in Ashfield.

Breaking Silent Codes is an exhibition of portraits of First Nations women from across Australian and the Pacific who came together to share stories of cultural and spiritual responses to the issue of family & domestic violence and sexual assault in communities across Australia and the Pacific. In March 2020, the women travelled to New York to share their stories with women from across the globe. It provided a platform for women to discuss the ways in which community, religion, authority and family create silences around sexual assault and family & domestic violence.

Where: Delmar Gallery
144 Victoria Street, Ashfield

When: 11 November 2020 to 29 November 2020

Emmanuel Angelicas always wanted to be a photographer and on his seventh birthday, his father humoured him with a plastic Diana camera. It took just twelve images on roll film, but Emmanuel took to photography with gusto… and soon ran out of film. Undaunted, he continued to press the shutter, taking images in his mind. His childhood friends never knew whether they were being immortalised or not. 

As he grew up in Marrickville, he became serious about the medium. He bought better cameras and graduated from the University of NSW with a degree in Visual Communication and a postgraduate diploma in Professional Art Studies with further visual arts qualifications from the University of Sydney.

Where: ATLAS Community & Cultural Centre96 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville

When: 15 November 2020 to 29 November 2020

Featuring the work of international and local photographers, Head On in print will include 25 major exhibitions  for the public to experience Head On’s outstanding online exhibitions in person. The shows will be accompanied by an encore of artist talks and panel discussions this year’s online festival.In May 2020, Head On Photo Festival rose to the challenge presented by COVID-19 to deliver the world-first online photography festival to great acclaim. Viewed by about 80,000 people from around the world, the online program showcased the diverse medium of photography through more than 180 thought-provoking exhibitions and live-streamed talks by artists and creative practitioners from over 47 countries.

Head On Festival Director Moshe Rosenzveig OAM said: “After our incredibly successful online festival earlier this year we are so excited to be able to present this physical series of beautiful and topical exhibitions. Head On’s international scope and agility as an independent organisation allow us to present world-class exhibitions that place the work of established Australian and internationally recognised artists alongside those of emerging talent. These exhibitions are no different, and we can’t wait to share them, in person, with Sydney.”

For more go to www.headon.com.au