Ben Apfelbaum

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 100 OBJECTS @ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

Held at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, this exhibition covers two million years of human history in one hall.

It started  out as a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum compromising of a 100 part Radio Series written and presented by the British Museum’s Director Neil MacGregor. At least one of his selections, the Rosetta stone is not in this exhibition, but Australia has two exhibits – an ancient Aboriginal basket, and the wifi machine prototype invented by the CSIRO, Object No 101.

The History demonstrates how we have shaped the world and how it shapes us. The Objects come from all over the globe, often demonstrating how trade or a conquest influences the local indigenous art.A cynical friend of mine said that this exhibition shows what great plunderers the British were. Nevertheless, whether you agree with him or not we are the beneficiaries of the generosity of the British Museum permitting these priceless objects to leave their traditional home and travel a vast distance to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.

From the humble flint to the solar powered lamp and credit card, this is an absorbing and deeply satisfying exhibition with ample texts describing each object. I do not know what Neil MacGregor’s selection criteria were but in an exhibition such as this one can’t help but play the game of what you would have included. Why not the phonograph, the brownie box camera, the telephone, the morse code clicker, radio, television, and the personal computer. I could continue and then we would have 200 objects in world history. The exhibition is dimly lit but large print explanatory text boards are available for the myopic.

This exhibition is deservedly very popular and to avoid the lengthy queues that I witnessed even on a week day, arrive early in the day. It runs until the 29th January.

Featured Image – Early Credit Card, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2009.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.