Ben Apfelbaum

NAIDOC IN THE CITY – HYDE PARK

BensLens3BensLens4BensLens5BensLens6BensLens7BensLens8BensLens9

All images by Ben Apfelbaum.

This year’s NAIDOC Week theme Songlines – the living narrative of our nation- seeks to engage the wider community to know more about The Dreamtime- when ancestral spiritual beings shaped our rivers, lakes, plants, land formation and living creatures.

NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate our indigenous cultural fabric.

NAIDOC in the City was staged at Hyde Park and included areas highlighting indigenous culture including the FOOD ZONE, MARKET PLACE, KIDS’ CULTURE, KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE, and MAIN STAGE AND ENTERTAINMENT.

NAIDOC IN THE CITY- HYDE PARK on Monday 4 July was the inaugural public event kicking off NAIDOC 2016 with events continuing  until Thursday 14 July.

The remaining NAIDOC events are three events this Wednesday 13 July- A NAIDOC Celebration with Matthew Doyle at Woollahra Library between 10 am and 11 and Underexposed : Shelling Workshop at Waverley Library between 10 am and 12 pm, and a Women’s Weaving Workshop at Hillsdale Community Hall between 10.30 am and 11.30 am, and Thursday 14 July- Underexposed : Art, Health and Community- Public Talk at Waverley Library between 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm.

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.