by Alana Aphoy
At 17, straight after attending an all girls’ Catholic school, I was accepted to study Fine Arts Photography at the Victorian College of the Arts. Needless to say the transition from “high school” to “art school” was an interesting experience. One I may not have been ready for at the time.
At 20, I became distracted from my studies and started photographing local bands. I soon found myself photographing for a Melbourne street press magazine.
Every weekend saw me at a different venue photographing a different band learning the art of adaptation along with improving and gaining technical skill. Looking back, this “on-the-job-training” would be an incredibly valuable experience, one that would see me photograph graduate from the local music scene to photographing international acts like the Stereophonics, Snow Patrol, Groove Armada and Ms Suzanne Vega at some of Australia’s top entertainment venues.
This period in time was awesome fun. Sometimes stressful, but fun! Did I mention I was shooting on film during this time?
A digital SLR was soon invested for cost and practical reasons. Between gigs I eventually started photographing various music festivals and then Film and TV events such as the TV Week Logie Awards.
In 2009 I was also invited to photograph the 12th Rendez-Vous in French Cinema conference in Paris.
After nearly 7 years of photographing bands and all things entertainment, I found great pleasure in travelling and photographing, applying what I learned when photographing bands to a more relaxed stage. In 2010, I decided to move away (for the moment) from the entertainment world to now focus on my more creative pursuits. In June 2010 I was selected to exhibit in a group show at New North Gallery, my first exhibition in 5 years. I also had artwork exhibited in group shows such as the CCP “Kodak Salon” and the Brunswick St Gallery’s “Picture This”.
In July 2010, I was invited to showcase a series titled “Constructure” at New North Gallery.
In November 2010, I was also successful in winning the “People’s Choice Award” at the New North Prize Salon at New North Gallery for my photograph “Paris” a digital B&W photograph .
2011 has now seen an invitation to exhibit at New North Gallery (March) as part of an exhibition showcasing established and emerging female artists to commemorate the centenary of International Women’s Day, at Art Melbourne the Affordable Art Fair as an emerging artist for the start program and now at one hundredth gallery (Sept-Oct).
I have also been producing work for private collectors both in Australia and in France.
I continue to look forward to taking photographs and hope I get to share them soon with you all.
Exhibitions
2011
- Affordable Art Fair (May) @ Royal Exhibition Buildings
- Alison’s Daughters @ New North Gallery
2010
- New North Prize @ New North Gallery
- Kodak Salon @ the Contemporary Centre of Photography (CCP)
- Picture This @ Brunswick Street Gallery (BSG)
- Constructure @ New North Gallery
- 4 Artists @ New North Gallery
2005
- Fragments of a Distorted Mind @ Bar Open
Awards
- People’s Choice Award Winner for the New North Prize (2010)
Alana is exhibiting and selling her work at one hundredth gallery until 2 October 2011. Please click on the image below for further examples of Alana’s work.
