Wesley Stacey

Wesley Stacey (1941–2023 ) was an Australian photographer and photojournalist who was a co-founder of the Australian Centre for Photography. Exhibited widely, including at Serpentine Gallery, London, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and a retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia in 1991, his work has been collected by the NGA, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Early life and training

Born at Fairlight in Sydney, New South Wales, from 1957 to 1959 'Wes' Stacey was a screen-printers apprentice and in 1960 began photographing, set up his own darkroom and studied drawing and design at East Sydney Technical College and worked as assistant ABC TV graphic designer. After finishing his studies in 1962 he continued in design and photography work in Sydney then went to England where he was employed by BBC TV, London (1964–66) during which time he photographed the landscape and architecture of England and Wales

In 1968 Stacey returned to "find his Australian roots" and joined Gareth Powell’s Chance and POL magazines in Sydney then until 1976 freelanced as a commercial photographer specialising in architecture, travel, environment and heritage.

In 1973 Stacey with David Moore served on the original committee to plan and establish the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney.

Stacey with architect Phillip Cox conducted a large-scale project promoting the preservation of Australia's colonial architecture in rural and urban areas as part of a consciousness-raising by members of the National Trust around Australia. Thir 1972 book The Australian Homestead, in photographs and text documented diverse and significant colonial buildings and conveyed an overview of the rich heritage of Australia's nineteenth-century buildings. The National Library later acquired all of the photographs for the publication. Helen Ennis distinguished in Stacey's photographs;

...the quality of attention paid to the buildings and their sites, particularly in rural environments. He presents a range of viewpoints, contextualising the homesteads in tantalising long shots, using exterior and interior shots and providing wonderful close-ups of architectural details. Stacey takes particular pleasure in the forms of construction used see, for example, the photographs taken inside shearing sheds...

Moving to live on the lower south coast of New South Wales, where he photographed for the government South Coast Advisory Committee on Woodchipping in public forests, and travelled throughout Australia photographing for publication and exhibition projects, including an important series The Road for which he used the inexpensive point-and-shoot 110 format Kodak Instamatic exhibited at the Australian Centre for Photography. He also worked with Guboo Ted Thomas and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies documenting First Nations' heritage sites.

From 1993 Stacey continued to live on the far south east coast and took up use of a panoramic camera for monochrome and colour landscapes and skyscapes in Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Brittany and England.

Wesley Stacey died at home on the New South Wales South Coast on 9 February 2023.

Awards

• 1981: Australia Council Grant to continue photographing on the South Coast
• 1993: Awarded Australian Artists Creative Fellowship by the Federal Government

Collections

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• Albury Regional Art Gallery
• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
• Australian National Library, Canberra
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Exhibitions

Solo

• 1964  Photographic Expression, University of New South Wales, Sydney
• 1965  Australian Vernacular Architecture, Royal Institute of British Architects, London
• 1973  Towards A Self Portrait, Brummels Gallery, Melbourne
• 1975   The Edge, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and Coventry Gallery, Sydney
• 1975 The Road, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
• 1990  Signing The Land, Canberra School of Art, Canberra
• 1991 Photography 1965-91, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1993  to the bright plain, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
• 1994  Landscapes for Peace: Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
• 1995  Landscapes for Peace:Shinsegae Dongbang Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• 1996  Landscapes for Peace: Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne

Group

• 1967  The Australian Nude, Gallery A, Sydney and Melbourne
• 1972  Kings Cross, The Yellow House, Sydney and Gallery A, Melbourne  /  Friends, Brummels Gallery, Melbourne
• 1974-9  Recent Australian Photography, Asian Tour
• 1979  The Law Comes From The Mountain, Aboriginal travelling exhibition
• 1980  Australian Photographic Industry Collection, Festival of Sydney
• 1981  Sydney Focus I Melbourne Shift, Victorian College of the Arts
• 1981  The Developed Image Gallery, Adelaide
• 1981  Mumbulla-Spiritual-Contact, Australian National Library, Canberra and Parliament House and The Australian Museum, Sydney
• 1981  Land Marks, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
• 1981  Eureka!, Australian Artists, Serpentine Gallery, London
• 1981  New Colour Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
• 1982  Australian Wilderness, University of NSW, Sydney
• 1982  After The Tent Embassy, travelling exhibition
• 1983  Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• 1983  From Another Continent - The Dream and the Real, Paris, France
• 1983  Recent Colour Photography, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1983  Decade of Australian Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
• 1983  Old Continent - New Building, travelling Europe and America
• 1985  CSR Photography Project, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
• 1987   Photography in the 1970s, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1988   Images And Objects, Aeroporto di Roma, Italy
• 1988   Shades Of Light, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• 1993  Critic's Choice, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• 1995  On The Edge, Australian Photographers, San Diego Museum of Art, USA
• 1997  Site and Sensibility, Artbank selection, S.H. Ervine Gallery, Sydney
• 1997  Practically Art, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
• 1998  Cars and Cultures, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
• 1999  What is this thing called photography?, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• 2000  Selected Panoramics, Australian Photographic Society Conference, Canberra

Co-Authored Publications

• 1969 Rude Timber Buildings in Australia, with Philip Cox, Thames & Hudson
• 1970 Building Norfolk Island, with Philip Cox, Nelson
• 1971 Kings Cross Sydney, with Rennie Ellis, Nelson
• 1972 The Australian Homestead, with Phillip Cox, Landsdowne
• 1973 Historic Towns of Australia, with Philip Cox, Landsdowne
• 1973 The Artist Craftsman in Australia, with Fay Botrell, Pollard
• 1975 Country Towns, with John Ross, Macmillan
• 1977 Timeless Gardens, with Eleanor Williams, Pioneer Design Studio
• 1978 Baronda, with Max Williams, Pot Still Press
• 1979 Colonial Architecture in Australia, with Philip Cox, Landsdowne
• 1980 Mumbulla-Spiritual-Contact, with Guboo Ted Thomas, ANU
• 1982 After The Tent Embassy, with Marcia Langton, Valadon