News and Reviews
Pictures from the edge
Pictures from the edge
By Tim Howard
Photos recording the family life of a Northern Rivers woman raising two children in poverty in Bangalow has been accepted into Australia’s largest photographic event.
In March Margaret Dean, who now lives at Wyan, near Casino, decided to send a portfolio of her pictures to the Head On Photo Festival.
The festival, held at Bondi for from November 10 to December 3, prides itself on its collection of “beautiful, eclectic and thought-provoking images”.
Ms Dean said she could not have been more excited at having her works chosen for the exhibition.
“I’ve never really put myself out there,” she said. “I’ve ever tried to get any attention for my photographs.
“I didn’t know if they were of interest to anybody. You know they are just family.”
Ms Dean who was diagnosed as neurodiverse with autism, at the age of 54, long after she took these pictures, has produced images that give an insight into her world.
“Looking back, these images represent the margins we have lived in: on the edge of town, under the poverty line, and in the fringes of society,” she said.
A moody portrait conveying the emotions of a family living with an undiagnosed condition at the margins of a community. Photo: Margaret Dean.
Ms Dean said when she saw the call for submissions she thought maybe they could be of interest for other people.
She sent in 20 photos taken over eight years while her two children grew up in their rented home at Bangalow and the judges chose 10 to be be part of the exhibition.
As a first time exhibitor she had no idea what might happen.
“I had just about given up on them,” she said. “Then at the end of April I was told my photos were on the short list of entries.
“Then I had to wait another three months, till around July before I knew they had been accepted.”
Ms Dean said she had been “sitting on” the photos for more than 10 years, quietly thinking they were good enough.
“They tell a story about something and maybe it’s worth other people seeing them,” she said.
Ms Dean said the photos were about belonging, yet never feeling like you’re part of the world.
“When you feel like you’re not quite a part of the world, like other people are, then your home becomes a safe space for you because it’s the only space where you can be yourself without judgment,” she said.
“That’s what I see when I look at these images.”
But over time she said she has added onto that feeling.
“The wider setting of the images is we were living in Bangalow at a time when it was undergoing great change.
One of the photographs submitted for the Head On Exhibition starting in Sydney on November 10 capturing a family activity in Bangalow. Photo: Margaret Dean.
“I think we had the cheapest house to rent in town and it was at that time the financially disadvantaged residents the people who rented, but who had only income, were being pushed out by rising rents.
“When I look back at these pictures, all the families that my daughter went to school with. They’re no longer there.
“Most of them are gone. Unless they owned their own home, they’re no long there. It was like this pushing out of the poorer residents.”
She described why she called the selection of photographs In Margins.
“When I look at it I just see how looking back over my life, now that I know about my neurodiversity, I can see it in the photos,” she said.
“I can see what I’m looking at now, but I didn’t understand it back then.”
Head On Photo Festival creative director and founder Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, said the event accepted one of the highest numbers of works to date.
“What’s unique about this festival – and unseen in any other gallery in Australia – is that we aren’t selecting the artists, rather the artwork based on its composition and merit alone,” Mr Rosenzveig said
“The majority of portrait competitions are judged on the celebrity of the photographer or subject, meaning so many incredible works are not seen.
“At Head On the pieces are submitted blindly, so the selection panel doesn’t know who the photographer is. We don’t care where they went to school, or where they have exhibited before. We’re trying to eliminate that bias.”
Over the years, Head On Foundation has put $700,000 in cash and products back into the arts industry through the Head On Photo Awards and supported thousands of photographic artists by producing and promoting their exhibitions.
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News and Reviews
Honey mustard chicken sausage rolls & Chicken stir-fry with cashews, chilli and broccoli
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What’s on the menu tonight?
Greyhound runt wins maiden race
By Samantha Elley
Australians love nothing more than a good underdog story and the life of Butcher is definitely that.
Butcher had a tough beginning when he was born the runt of the greyhound litter belonging to Lyndall Beaumont and Brad Northfield of Backmede.
“He was the runt but also his mother rolled over and lied on him,” said Lyndall.
“We thought he was dead as he was lifeless.
“(Brad) was going to the greyhound committee and he said, ‘He’s dead. Throw him in the bin.’ He was used to it.”
But Lyndall knew she couldn’t do that, so she wrapped the puppy up warm and started massaging him.
“He came back to life!” she said
“I got an eye dropper and got special milk from the vet and I took him to bed for the next two weeks and got up every few hours, like a baby, and gave him a few drops of milk.”
Butcher with his owners Courtesy Casino Greyhound Racing Club Facebook page
Lyndall said Butcher was so tiny he fit in the palm of her hand.
“Brad told me to put him back with his mother, and she rolled on him again,” said Lyndall.
“So from then on I said I was keeping him inside.”
Butcher, which is his racing name, is now a normal size for a greyhound.
He was named after David ‘Butcher’ McLeod, for all his help during trialling at the race track.
“(Butch) goes above and beyond with the trials,” said Lyndall.
“He always wanted someone to call a dog after him, so we called ours Butcher.”
Earlier this month, Butcher showed what he was made of when he won his maiden race at the Casino Greyhound races.
Brad has admitted to the Casino Greyhound Racing Club that none of that would have been possible if not for Lyndall nursing Butcher back to life and willing the puppy to survive.
“(Butcher is) special,” said Lyndall.
“It is like he is human.”
Lyndall knows there is more to come in Butcher’s racing career.
For more local news, click here.
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