Photo Access

Photo Access photo access is the ACT and region’s centre for contemporary photography, film, video and media arts.

photo access is pleased to be returning to Sydney Contemporary for Photo Sydney 2026, presenting the works of Danica Cha...
29/08/2026

photo access is pleased to be returning to Sydney Contemporary for Photo Sydney 2026, presenting the works of Danica Chappell, Sonia Mangiapane, and unseen photographs from the personal archive of celebrated architect Enrico Taglietti (1926–2019).

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Danica Chappell is a visual artist, creating on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples, in Naarm (Melbourne). Through her darkroom practice, Danica examines the intersecting paths of abstraction and the history of photography. Distilling the malleability of a photograph, Danica orientates her work in the cameraless, constructing shadows activated by the photogram. Light, shadow, form, colour and actions collide in the haptic darkroom and become fixed as both concrete and abstract traces. Folding known conventions, the abstracted pictorial frame is an expression of cadence and light sensitive substrates.

Danica’s work has exhibited widely in various settings including Colour Bleeds and Light Folds (2023), Direct Contact: Cameraless Photography Now (2023), Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington In., USA, Thickness of Time at Heide III MoMA Project Gallery (2018-19), New Matter: Recent Forms of Photography (2016), AGNSW Sydney, Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph (2016), Govett-Brewster, New Plymouth NZ and recent completed commissioned installations include Slippery Images (2023) for NGV’s Melbourne Now and Far From The Eye (2021) for PHOTO2021.

In 2025 Danica was a photo access Dark Matter resident and in 2026 she is the inaugural Australian Tapestry Workshop and Linden New Art mid-career artist in residence.
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Please email [email protected] or DM to request a preview catalogue.

Images:
Danica Chappell, Light Folds (Doublet #2 & #8), 2023–2026, layered chromogenic photographs, 47.3 x 51.8 cm
Danica Chappell, Shadow Shaping (Light-modulated-form #5), 2025, chromogenic photograph, 125.1 x 110 cm
Danica Chappell, Shadow Shaping (Light-modulated-form #6), 2025, chromogenic photograph, 142 x 121 cm

photo access is pleased to be returning to Sydney Contemporary for Photo Sydney 2026, presenting the work of Danica Chap...
28/08/2026

photo access is pleased to be returning to Sydney Contemporary for Photo Sydney 2026, presenting the work of Danica Chappell, Sonia Mangiapane, and unseen photographs from the personal archive of renowned architect Enrico Taglietti (1926–2019).

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Enrico Taglietti was an Italian-born architect who made a lasting contribution to Australian modernism. The work of celebrated photographers such as Max Dupain and Harry Sowden established Taglietti’s work in the photographic record of Australian architecture, but no one saw these buildings quite like the architect himself. In partnership with the Taglietti family, we are pleased to present a selection of silver-gelatin photographs hand-printed in the photo access darkroom from the architect’s original negatives.

Attentive to light as both architectural and photographic material, the images reveal how one of Australia’s most visionary architects used the camera to examine the interplay of form, material, and place in his designs.
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Please email [email protected] or DM to request a preview catalogue.

Images courtesy Taglietti Archive & photo access:
Enrico Taglietti, Italian Embassy Chancery (X), 1974
Enrico Taglietti, Center Cinema, 1964
Enrico Taglietti, A.C. Smith House, 1969
Enrico Taglietti, Australian War Memorial Annex (I), 1977

The photo access darkroom and members' area will be closed this Saturday, 29 August, for a workshop happening in our mak...
25/08/2026

The photo access darkroom and members' area will be closed this Saturday, 29 August, for a workshop happening in our makerspaces.

Thank you for your understanding and patience!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIZE – PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD Please join us in congratulating Caitlin Low, winner of...
16/08/2026

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIZE – PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
 
Please join us in congratulating Caitlin Low, winner of the CCPP 2026 People’s Choice Award for her work ‘Rodeo Doll’!

Caitlin Low is a documentary photographer with a background in print media and journalism. Through her playful use of timing and quiet observation, her work explores the unscripted technicolour of Australian life.

 
Artist statement:
“I am drawn to the unscripted technicolour of Australian life.

"As a full-time office worker, documentary photography has become a weekend ritual, observing and recording experiences outside my own. In this space, my small stature and modest gear are no longer insecurities, but tools, allowing me to get where I need to be without disturbing a scene.

"There are many photos one can take at a rodeo. There are broncs and bulls and clowns, sometimes broken bones. I found this rodeo doll on the sidelines of Murwillumbah Showground, enjoying a quiet moment like me.”

Low receives $500, generously supported by Lerida Estate Winery. Lerida Estate

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Images: Caitlin Low, Rodeo Doll, 2026, courtesy of the artist; Caitlin Low at the opening of the Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026, image courtesy of Max Keene.

WORKSHOP | Introduction to Black and White Darkroom WeekendThis two-day workshop is the perfect way to delve into the wo...
04/08/2026

WORKSHOP | Introduction to Black and White Darkroom Weekend

This two-day workshop is the perfect way to delve into the world of black and white photography and darkroom printing! You'll learn the basics of analogue photography, shooting on film, developing your own negatives and printing.

Saturday 29 August and Sunday 30 August, 10 am to 4 pm both days at photo access

Perfect for beginners or those needing a refresher. Limited spots available, sign up now: https://photoaccess.org.au/calendar/workshops/introduction-to-black-and-white-darkroom-weekend/

Images:
1 - courtesy of photo access
2 - Sami Harper

The Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026 continues in the photo access galleries until 15 August. Gallery hours...
29/07/2026

The Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026 continues in the photo access galleries until 15 August.
 
Gallery hours:
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am - 4pm
 
Sales enquiries:
[email protected]
 
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photo access is supported by artsACT and Creative Australia ✨

photo access invites artists and curators of all career levels to apply for our 2027 Gallery Program. This is an opportu...
29/07/2026

photo access invites artists and curators of all career levels to apply for our 2027 Gallery Program. This is an opportunity to showcase your work in a gallery with an established local and national profile, engaged audiences and a dynamic network of artists, curators and arts commentators.

EOI closes 11pm Sunday 30 August 2026 AEST.

Follow the link in our bio to find out more.

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Image: Installation view of F**a No Face by Lilah Benetti at photo access, 2025. Photo: Eunie Kim.

Thank you for joining us last week to celebrate the opening of the Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026! The ex...
26/07/2026

Thank you for joining us last week to celebrate the opening of the Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize 2026!

The exhibition was formally opened by Taimus Werner-Gibbings and continues in the photo access gallery until 15 August 2026.

Congratulations to our 40 finalists, and an enormous thank you our 2026 prize sponsors: CCPP Founding Partner Lucent Imaging, ILFORD PHOTO, and Lerida Estate.

As always, a huge thank you to Lerida Estate and Hawke's Brewing Co. for supporting our exhibition openings.

photo access is supported by artsACT and Creative Australia ✨


Photos: Max Keene

ONLINE WORKSHOP | Meeting You, Again: Photography, Memory & The Practice of Return (2016 calls 2026)2 September - 14 Oct...
23/07/2026

ONLINE WORKSHOP | Meeting You, Again: Photography, Memory & The Practice of Return (2016 calls 2026)

2 September - 14 October 2026

In 2026, many of us find ourselves looking back ten years, to 2016. What does it mean to revisit who we were then, and why does that moment continue to surface now?

In this unique online workshop, taught by exhibiting artist Yani Clarke, participants will revisit their own work from 2016 and use that as a launching-off point to create new work in response to this act of returning.

Delivered online in a small, focused group (maximum ten participants), the workshop includes fortnightly check-ins, image sharing, and ongoing feedback. Rather than chasing newness or resolution, the emphasis is on reflection, contrast, and artistic growth.

Limited spots available, secure yours now: https://photoaccess.org.au/calendar/workshops/meeting-you-again/
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Images:
1. Yani Clarke, LUCKY ROCKET (Sequence I), 2014
3. Photographer Yani Clarke in Lismore

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIZE – FIRST PRIZE We are excited to announce that Estelle Yoon’s ‘엄마의 초상화 (Portrait...
16/07/2026

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHIC PRIZE – FIRST PRIZE
 
We are excited to announce that Estelle Yoon’s ‘엄마의 초상화 (Portrait of My Mother)’ has been awarded First Prize in this year’s Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize!
 
Artist statement: A few years ago, while Yoon visited her late mother’s childhood home on the outskirts of Seoul, she happened upon a lone chair facing a frozen lake. Though vacant, the scene felt deeply inhabited, as if her mother was seated there. The ontological duality of glass is that it preserves the image while refracting the touch. Its crystalline surface echoes the lake’s ice and the suspended stillness of memory and grief. This portrait is shaped by the landscape of absence; a quiet attempt to hold onto what is gone, yet refuses to depart.
 
Yoon receives $2,000, proudly supported by founding partner Lucent Imaging Lucent Imaging

The winning works were selected by the esteemed judging panel of Brenda L Croft (artist, curator and Professor of Indigenous Art History and Curatorship, ANU), Anne O’Hehir (Curator of Photography, National Gallery of Australia), l and Blair French (Chief Executive Officer, Murray Art Museum Albury).

The Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize continues until Saturday 15 August

Images courtesy of the artist

Address

30 Manuka Circle
Canberra, ACT
2603

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

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+61262957810

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