“The danger for documentary photographers is that they can become didactic. ‘This is what I saw, so this is what you should think’. In my personal work, I try only to ask questions and in finding a response, the viewer is hopefully in some way enriched.”
- Mark Chew
Mark’s previous exhibitions //
ONE POINT ONE
Exhibited at Studio Blueboat in Melbourne in 2010 following an extensive trip to Southern India. The worked comprised a series of 12 images created by layering images shot on 35mm black and white film with the square colour negatives of
a Holga camera.
UNLUCKY FOR SOME
A collection of 13 portraits, was first shown at Studio Blueboat in 2012. It captured some famous (Bob Brown, Julian Assange, Cadel Evans) and some not so famous Australian's, obliquely asking the viewer to asses the fortunes of the subject.
MODI’S INHERITANCE
Exhibited at FortyFiveDownstairs in September 2015, this collection of images was made in and around New Delhi in the month prior to Modi’s election victory. The social problems he inherited such as poverty, over population, lack of health care, the treatment of women, religious intolerance and endemic pollution seemed almost insurmountable. However, they remain addressed each day by a people with boundless optimism, a dogged will to survive, and an ability to create things of beauty out of the most desperate circumstances.
NILI KOTOKA
Exhibited at FortyFiveDownstairs in September 2017 - over three million people live in the settlements of Mukuru and Kibera on the outskirts of Nairobi. In terms of land area to population, they are perhaps the most crowded places on earth. Extreme poverty, malnutrition, HIV, cholera and sexual abuse are prevalent, but dignity and perseverance abound.
NILI KOTOKA, (Swahili meaning “where I come from”) is an attempt to understand how despite the most desperate circumstances, community is fundamental, music permeates all aspects of life and above all, education is cherished.