Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, 27 - 30 Aug, 2026

Represented by Irid Gallery at the Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, 27 - 30 Aug 2026, some people looking at my work.

WHOA 23,000 people attended the Affordable Art Fair Aug 27 – 30 2026 at the Royal Exhibition building in Melbourne.

What a blast, a real rollercoaster of feelings. As an introvert I found it exhausting. I spoke to hundreds and hundreds of people about my work, many loved my photography and were fascinated by my drawings and photography drawing combinations and took lots of pictures on their phones. I didn’t sell as many as I would have liked. But it was a big success for Irid Gallery as our first public launch. Ran into people who I had not seen in many years and over 50 ex students came to wish me well, discuss cans of tuna and pay their respects. I found that deeply moving and had some quite emotional conversations.

I was continuingly surprised on the amount of people who still don’t consider photography art. Clearly they have never been to the NGV or any gallery for that matter. Or know anything about art history. To have numerous complete strangers come up to you and just say, “photography is not art”, and then walk away is both disrespectful and odd behaviour. They walk away because they are afraid to discuss or understand another point of view that is not their own. Why do you feel the need to come up and say that. Why not keep your opinions to yourself. It’s always easy to knock those who try and give it a go and put your work out there. And those who criticise are usually those who don’t do. It says more about them than anything else. I try not to concern myself with the views of cowards. There is an element in the industry of photographers tearing other photographers down.

Below is part of an video interview and article on cleverplanet on my work. I can recommend cleverplanet as a creative resource.

Represented by Irid Gallery at the Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, 27 - 30 Aug 2026

Reading : Feedback by Peter Cawdron

Watching : Silo

Listening : Sleep Circles by Max Richter

Eating : chicken sandwhiches

Drinking : sparkling water and lime