Frank Hurley: Photographing the Great War

Small exhibition of the First World War photographs of Frank Hurley at Charleston Farmhouse.

I had previously come across Hurley at the photographer on Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic and loved those evocative images. It’s a powerful idea that having been rescued from the South Atlantic, he then went to the Western Front as an Australian war artist.

Many of the photographs reminded me of those Antarctic ones, particularly those in dug outs. He was criticized at the time for using composite images when he could not get the scene he wanted however these make powerful images which show scenes which could not have been achieved in a single frame.

The exhibition was part of the Brighton Photo Biennial.

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