Shepparton Art Museum announces major international solo exhibition from USA-based photographer Ryan McGinley as part of PHOTO 2024 regional program.

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is pleased to announce its participation in the biennial PHOTO 2024 festival in March 2024. From 1 March to 14 July 2024, American artist Ryan McGinley's photographic project YEARBOOK will be showing at SAM, marking the artist's first solo exhibition in Australia.

An ever-evolving project, YEARBOOK is a large-scale photographic installation consisting of over seven hundred studio portraits of musicians, artists, and creatives living and working in New York.

A joyful celebration of the diversity of the human body, each photograph in YEARBOOK features its subject posing against vibrant candy-coloured backgrounds, appearing like fashion or rock band promotional posters. Plastered over every available millimeter of the gallery walls, the installation envelops the visitor. Each individual image is a unique portrait that grants the viewer access to a delicate, once-private moment between the photographer and sitter. First presented in 2008, YEARBOOK has featured in several in major public institutions across Japan, Denmark, Korea, and Spain.

Melinda Martin, SAM CEO, says of the exhibition:

“It’s a privilege to be a part of PHOTO 2024, and we’re thrilled to be premiering Ryan McGinley’s work to an Australian audience. Ryan’s work is so vibrant and celebratory, and many people will be able to see themselves reflected in the multitude of bodies represented in his portraits. Despite its scale, each portrait in the installation possesses its own distinct identity; each subject’s unabashed ownership of their moment in front of the camera works as a collective rejection of the ‘perfect body’.”

A regional weekend celebration of PHOTO 2024 and YEARBOOK will take place at SAM on 8 March 2024. Details of the weekend’s program will be announced in 2024. YEARBOOK will be showing at SAM from 1 March until 14 July 2024 with free entry. To learn more about the upcoming PHOTO 2024 program, visit their website: https://photo.org.au/

About Ryan McGinley:

Ryan McGinley is a New York–based photographer. His early photos displayed the unseen intersection of skateboard and graffiti culture, with a strong queer focus. At age twenty-five, he became the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (NYC). For over a decade, McGinley has road-tripped continuously throughout the United States to create work that incorporates the human body within the American landscape. Dubbed by GQ as “the most important photographer in America”, McGinley can often be found on the streets of NYC participating in queer activism, fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights. McGinley frequently presents international solo gallery and museum exhibitions and has an ongoing studio practice photographing members of NYC’s creative community. 

About PHOTO Australia:

PHOTO Australia was founded in 2018 to launch a major new photography biennale in Melbourne and sites across Regional Victoria. Taking place every two years, the festival addresses the major issues of our time in a program of free exhibitions, outdoor displays and artist commissions across the city, as well as awards, talks, workshops, tours and experiences. Presenting ideas critical to contemporary photographic discourse, PHOTO encourages the public to engage with and think about photography and visual culture in new and inspiring ways.

The inaugural festival PHOTO 2021 ‘The Truth’ presented 105 exhibitions by 160 artists. PHOTO 2022 ‘Being Human’ saw presentations of 130 artists across Melbourne including icons Cindy Sherman and Helmut Newton, with British Journal of Photography claiming the biennale is “Australia’s most prestigious photography festival.” Both festivals have attracted a total of more than 250,000 participants. PHOTO 2024 01–24 March ‘The Future Is Shaped by Those Who Can See It’ will be the third edition.

About SAM:

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria.

As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways, creating a welcoming, inclusive and engaging space for all visitors.

Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient cultures of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.