An exhibition of dramatic photographs of historic architecture and mining infrastructure by a UQ artist will mark the 100th anniversary of Broken Hill officially being declared a city.
"Line of Lode: Photographs by Peter Liddy’"will be at Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery from Friday, June 22 until Sunday, July 29.
Rebekah Butler, Manager of Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery said the exhibition documented the historic architecture and sites along the Line of Lode — a potent symbol of Broken Hill's mining heritage.
The Line of Lode is a 7.5 kilometre stretch of partially discussed mines, buildings, equipment, open cuts and tailing heaps.
"Through his camera lens, Liddy captures the inherent beauty and detail of Broken Hill’s industrial heritage, its landscape and architecture," Ms Butler said.
"The photographs focus on the North and South mines providing insight into the different approaches to mining plant construction used in Broken Hill, and the history of mining on the Line of Lode."
The 40 photographs include architectural compositions of forms and spaces, landscapes evoking the scale of the Line of Lode and the relationship between buildings and the vast environment, documentary images recording external and internal aspects of buildings and tunnels, and abstract compositions including textured surfaces and trays of core samples.
UQ heritage analyst Professor Peter Spearritt, who will open the exhibition, said Mr Liddy’s photographs captured long-redundant industrial landscapes.
"Broken Hill is Australia’s richest site of remnant industrial heritage and our most dramatic example of both the starkness and the intimacy of late-nineteenth and twentieth century mining," he said.
"Liddy’s series of photographs attest to the power of this extraordinary landscape. "The human drama of mining is best seen in the structures and shafts of Broken Hill.
"He has documented the Line of Lode structures with finesse, recording a sense of both past activity and abandonment."
"Line of Lode" continues Mr Liddy’s interest in photographing industrial and abandoned architecture and environments, which have included Brisbane’s now-demolished Tennyson Power Station, North Ipswich Railway Workshops, and the Blair Pavilion, a disused asylum on The University of Queensland’s Ipswich campus.
The exhibition grew out of an artist-in-residency Peter Liddy undertook with Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery in 2006.
Mr Liddy’s last exhibition was at the State Library of Queensland from March to May. It comprises photographs of the construction of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and the redevelopment of the State Library.
The exhibition and accompanying publication was supported by Broken Hill City Council, Arts NSW, CBH Resources, Perilya Mining, The University of Queensland, Conservation Resources and Ilford.
Media information, images and interviews: Celestine Doyle 0409 641 806.
