The VIEW2025 exhibition brings together an exceptional lineup of emerging photographers, spotlighting the cutting-edge work of Cailyn Forrest, Adam Hsieh, Fiona Lee, Aia Solis, and Emma Lyn Winkler. This annual event serves as a vital platform for the next generation of Australian photographic talent, offering insight into the evolving landscape of the medium. Each artist’s work explores different aspects of personal, social, and environmental narratives through analogue, digital, and experimental forms, offering a multi-layered reflection on contemporary life.
Accompanying the exhibition is a publication that delves into current photographic trends, offering a nuanced look at how analogue and digital techniques are being pushed to new boundaries, while also highlighting experimental practices that challenge traditional notions of what photography can be.
Cailyn Forrest: Darkroom Viscera
Cailyn Forrest’s Darkroom Viscera explores the intimate connection between artist, body, and photographic process. Forrest, a Doctoral candidate at the National Art School in Sydney, uses the darkroom as a sacred space for performative introspection, transforming the process of image-making into a bodily ritual. Through her alternative photographic techniques, Forrest examines the material labour involved in creating photographs, using a feminist lens to explore the intersection of body and image. The results are tactile, raw, and visceral, turning the process itself into an artwork.
Adam Hsieh: I Didn’t Come Here for Love
Adam Hsieh’s I Didn’t Come Here for Love presents a striking contrast between the vast natural beauty of Hobart’s kunanyi/Mount Wellington and the intimate, often dissonant encounters facilitated by the Grindr app. Hsieh, a queer Chinese migrant based in Tasmania, draws from his own experiences to interrogate how social and digital spaces shape our understanding of place. The juxtaposition of wide-angle landscapes with personal, virtual moments highlights the tensions between the physical world and digital interactions, providing a critical reflection on the dynamics of human connection in the modern age.
Fiona Lee: Future Critical
Fiona Lee’s Future Critical is a poignant response to ecological devastation and political stagnation. Based on her own experiences of displacement during the catastrophic 2019-2020 bushfires, Lee’s work confronts the unsettling reality of climate change through her practice of installation, photo media, and sculpture. Lee’s work tackles the impact of human activity on the environment, specifically focusing on deforestation and coal extraction. Her evocative images and installations serve as urgent calls for reflection on the state of the natural world and the precariousness of our future.
Aia Solis: Tarantana Muna
In Tarantana Muna, Aia Solis merges past and present, weaving a complex narrative that examines the tension between control and chaos. A Filipino artist now based in Australia, Solis’s work navigates themes of memory, identity, and emotional complexity. Her photographic practice often involves an experiential approach, reflecting on the internal processes of learning, unlearning, and personal transformation. Through her delicate yet dynamic imagery, Solis invites the viewer to contemplate the ever-changing nature of self and the fluidity of cultural and personal history.
Emma Lyn Winkler: Shadow Puppets
Emma Lyn Winkler’s Shadow Puppets offers a playful yet profound commentary on anxiety, death, and existential absurdity. By combining painting, photography, and animation, Winkler crafts textured narratives that oscillate between dark humor and introspective depth. Her slapstick animations, infused with visceral textures, create a disorienting sense of chaos, while her painted works layer imagery that speak to the complexity of human emotion. Through her intricate approach, Winkler invites viewers to laugh in the face of mortality—suggesting that humor, even in its most absurd forms, can be a tool for grappling with life’s most difficult questions.
A Platform for Emerging Voices
VIEW2025 is more than just an exhibition—it is a celebration of the future of Australian photo media. Each of these artists represents a new voice within the ever-evolving landscape of photography, offering fresh perspectives on a wide range of topics from personal identity and social relationships to climate change and political inertia. Through their innovative practices, Cailyn Forrest, Adam Hsieh, Fiona Lee, Aia Solis, and Emma Lyn Winkler are shaping the future of the medium, paving the way for new conversations and creative breakthroughs in photography.
VIEW2025 is not just a window into the present moment, but a reflection on what the future of photography could look like—bold, experimental, and unafraid to challenge the boundaries of the medium. For those interested in the future of art and photography in Australia, this exhibition is a must-see.
Exhibition Dates: 23 January — 22 February 2025
Venue: Manuka Arts Centre, 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith ACT 2603
Opening Night: 6 pm Thursday, 23 January
Admission: Free
Source: Photoaccess
