So you want my arts job: Photography Curator

Angela Connor is Senior Curator at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), where she delivers an ambitious exhibition program and selects from an extensive collection focused on Australian image making. 

She has worked for the last 15 years in a variety of arts organisations, across artist-run-initiatives, commercial galleries and as studio manager to a renowned Australian artist. This rich experience and her passion for the art world give her a valuable perspective for photographers both experienced and emerging.

In the last two years, Connor has curated a range of exhibitions on the work of celebrated photographers, including a major survey exhibition on Murray Fredericks, The Salt Lake, Peter Milne’s Lovers and Misfits, Izabela Pluta and Kiron Robinson’s Hollow and Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s Extraction.

Connor has written for numerous publications including the recent monograph on photographer Anne Zahalka, and Robert Owen: A Book of Encounters, launched in 2021 at Heide Museum of Modern Art. 

How would you describe what you do?

There are three aspects to my role as Senior Curator. The first is to deliver a compelling and well-articulated exhibition program that inspires audiences to engage with photography. 

The second aspect is to oversee the development and care of the MAPh collection. The Museum has a collection of just over 4000 photographs, and it is my responsibility to ensure that these photographs, which tell important Australian stories, are preserved for generations to come. I also work with the Director to acquire new works into the collection. We do this through commissioning works for our exhibition program, purchasing works that we may see in an exhibition or through donations to the Museum. 

The third is to champion Australian photographers and photography. We have incredible artists here in Australia, so being able to showcase them in well-crafted and dynamic exhibitions is important. 

How did you get started in your career?

I moved to Melbourne (Australia) in 2005 and began my Master of Fine Arts (by research) at the Victorian College of the Arts soon after. I had amazing supervisors, who expanded my knowledge of what a photograph is and can be. They taught me the value of research and the importance of lateral thinking. After finishing my Masters, I worked for a variety of organisations – artist-run-spaces, commercial galleries, online art magazines and artist- and curator-led collectives. All these experiences have contributed to my holistic approach to curating and working with artists. 

My most valued work experience was with the artist Robert Owen, who I worked with for five years. Together, we published a monograph and dived deep into his archives, which spanned five decades. Robert has had an amazing career, via Hydra in Greece, hanging with George Johnson, Charmian Clift and Leonard Cohen, then on to London, where he lived next-door to Robert Hughes and worked as a studio assistant for Anthony Hill and other British Constructionists. It’s through working with Robert that my interest in mid- to late-20th century art history deepened. 

I started working with MAPh about two years ago and I can honestly say that it’s my dream job. We are a small team and I work with extraordinary people who are highly skilled at their jobs. Everyone comes with the goal of working together to make our exhibition program and the audience’s experience of the Museum enjoyable and informative. 

What’s an average day or week like?

My days and weeks vary depending on which curatorial project or public programs are happening for the week. I may be researching future projects, or liaising with artists about their upcoming show, leading tours of our collection room, writing texts for exhibitions, being on panel discussions about photography or more strategy-related tasks, such as writing collection development policies or exhibition strategies. My Saturdays are generally filled by going around to various galleries to see new work by artists. 

What’s the most common misconception about being a Photography Curator?

People often ask me if I’m an artist or if I take photographs myself. Although I spent many years studying photography, I’m not an artist. I enjoy working with artists and seeing their vision come to life much more than being behind a camera or being an image-maker. 

People’s ideas about what is a good photograph are often framed around technical choices that an artist makes. While I think it’s important to have those skills, it’s not necessarily what I’m looking at when researching an artist’s practice or thinking about work for exhibitions. I much prefer the ideas behind a work, rather than if a work is solely focused on technical perfection. 

If you were interviewing someone for your job, what skills and qualities would you look for?

Anyone working in the arts must have resilience, determination and a bit of grit. What’s also important is having people skills and being able to work in a team environment. I’m just one small part of a team, and without the other people in the team, projects won’t get off the ground. 

Time management and the ability to prioritise tasks is essential: in my job I juggle between short and long-lead projects simultaneously. So, while I may be installing an exhibition, at the same time I may be planning for an exhibition that is six months or even two years away.

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Public speaking skills and being able to convey ideas in a clear, concise and succinct manner are also important. Photographs are essentially about storytelling, and as curator I need to engage audiences and communicate these stories to audiences with clarity and purpose. 

What’s the best thing happening in the field of photography?

In the last one 150 years, photography has changed dramatically. How we make images and look at images has changed dramatically. While photography may once have been this truth-telling medium, known for holding a mirror to society, the increase in digitally constructed images, including AI, has brought into question the authenticity of photographs. This, in turn, brings into question our relationship with the changing world around us. There are some interesting artists who are questioning the changing role and meaning of images over time. 

Photography has traditionally been a medium that is seen as a flat surface. So, when artists challenge this notion, and it can be seen as within the expanded field of art-making, that’s when things get exciting.

What aspects of photography interest you the most?

As history has shown us, an image has the capacity to change the way we see things. Images are extremely powerful and help us make sense of our world. If we look to some of the images that have helped shape history, for instance Mervyn Bishop’s image of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pouring soil into the hands of the traditional landowner Gurindji Elder Vincent Lingiari (1975), Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother (1936) taken during the Great Depression, or Neil Armstrong’s Man on the Moon (1969), we can see how the documentation of these events shape our view and help narrate history.

Photographs tell stories. They tell our cultural, social and political history. Next year, I am very excited to be co-curating an exhibition on the photography department of Prahran College of Advanced Education from 1968 to 1983. The 1970s was a period of great change in Australia, and through this exhibition, fellow MAPh curator Stella Loftus-Hills and I will be examining the influence of these artists and their teachers on arts education and photography in Australia.

For more in the So you want my arts job series.