Bill Henson

Bill Henson ( born 1955 in Melbourne) is an Australian photographer. He represented Australia at the 1995 Venice Biennale.

Bill Henson could already imagine the age of 19 his works in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. Since then, his works mainly in Australia, but also in many other countries are regularly presented in solo and group exhibitions.

The photographs are characterized by the repeated representation of the dark. Light, twilight and shadows are used both in landscape photography as well as in the representation of people as a defining compositional device. Another issue is young people on the threshold of adulthood. They are often depicted naked or barely clothed. The figures often have androgynous features, the body merge with the darkness surrounding them, rarely overlook the models in the camera. The incident lights draw attention to some disconcerting details such as dirt or wounds, or leave the body unreal, almost waxy, appear.

Earlier works from the 1980s are often designed as a diptych or triptych. In recent exhibitions, the large-format photographs ( approximately 120 x 180 cm) are hung in groups or rows, alternating landscapes and human figures and complement and surprise the audience in their compilation and can irritate.

Bill Henson's photographs are found in all major Australian museums, but also outside of Australia are included in several permanent collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the MUMOK Vienna.

Exhibitions (selection)

Pictorials

• Bill Henson. Mnemosyne: Photographic Works 1974-2004, Scalo, 2005 ISBN 3-03939-003-1.
• Lux et Nox, Scalo, 2002. ISBN 3-908247-55-1