Ian Dodd – Bio

Ian Dodd’s delicate, sensual and fantastical, black and white images have made him a key figure in the history of Australian photography. Working with the medium for over fifty years, he uniquely demonstrates photography’s capacity to express the surreal realm of our inner worlds. Described as ‘a visual equivalent to the literary genre of magic realism’, his evocative images transcend the documentary genre to become mysterious and intriguing objects for contemplation.

Since the outset of his career Dodd has developed an impressive exhibition history. His work was featured in the inaugural exhibition at the Australian Centre for Photography (1974), where he later had his first solo exhibition (1977). Numerous national and international exhibitions have followed, including his participation in Brummels: Australia’s first gallery of Photography, Monash Gallery of Art (2011), Peacock Variations, Australia Centre for Photography (2007), Magic Realism, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2006), and On The Edge: Australian Photographers, San Diego Museum of Art, US. His work has been published in a monograph, Contemporary Photographers: Ian Dodd, (2006), and is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, and the State Library of New South Wales.