Ben Apfelbaum

UNPACKING YODA : THE JEDI MASTER ARRIVES!

An exhibition entitled Star Wars : Identity opens on Friday 16 November 2018 and should prove an irresistible magnet to Star War fans.

Perhaps the most revered character is Yoda the Jedi master. He teaches Jedi knights to nurture and channel an inner and outer strength known as the Force. It creates courage, endurance and strategic and tactical wisdom to become a Jedi knight (an exclusive band of warriors)

Yoda at critical times materialises to impart a prophetic wisdom to help the Jedi knights and their followers to fend off what is known as the Dark Side.  

In this exhibition this reverence has spilled over into the treatment of a Yodi figure. The media was called to the Powerhouse Museum to witness the uncrating of Yoda and the reverential treatment with which it was accorded as it was transported to its nearby exhibition case.

Interestingly enough the case is quite large emphasising Yoda’s diminutive stature.

In the earlier films he was played by dwarfs such as Warwick Davis but in more recent times Yoda has been digitised.

Unfortunately he died at the age of 900 in the most recent Star Wars film Return of the Jedi.

But he lives again in this exhibition!

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.