Melbourne, Australia - After Image: Social documentary photography in the 20^th century opens on 4 November 2006 and brings together 38 images by American, Australian, British, European and South African photographers active from the 1870s to the early 1980s.  Social documentary photography captures unfamiliar or shocking aspects of society.  During global conflicts of the twentieth century, photographs in print were one of the most important means by which people around the world could see what was happening.

With equal insight, social documentary photographers also turned their cameras onto familiar domestic subjects - their photographs revealing the bizarre juxtapositions of every-day life and recording disappearing aspects of a changing world.

Susan van Wyk, Curator of Photography at the NGV, said After Image highlighted the importance of work done by social documentary artists.

“The work of social documentary photographers has enhanced our understanding of who we are.  With the passage of time, once contemporary photographs of people and places have now become the vital traces of lives lived and events enacted,” Ms van Wyk said.

“Through looking at photographs like those included in this exhibition we are able to see the best, the worst and the most ordinary aspects of ourselves.”

Selected entirely from the NGV collection, photographers in the exhibition include Margaret Bourke-White, Bill Brandt, Robert Capa, Walker Evans, George Gittoes, David Goldblatt, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Felix H. Man, Roger Mayne, David Moore, Marion Post-Wolcott, David Potts, Erich Salomon, Chris Steele-Perkins, Alfred Stieglitz, John Thomson and Roman Vishniac.

Tony Ellwood, Deputy Director, NGV said he was sure all visitors to the exhibition would connect with the images: “Each and every photograph in this show continues to resonate long after you see it.  Every image possesses a memorable quality, something thought-provoking that lingers in our consciousness.”

After Image :Social documentary photography in the 20^th century is on show at NGV International from 4 November 2006 until 1 April 2007.  NGV International.  Visit www.ngv.vic.gov.au for more details.