Portraits capture the community

Bob captured in a corporate portrait. Picture: ROSS COULTER

By Casey Neill

 Artist Ross Coulter says a photograph is always lacking.

“It can never capture the entirety of a person’s life,” he said.

“But maybe it’s a starting point of a conversation.”

He’s hoping his Corporate Portraits exhibition at Warburton Arts Centre will start plenty.

The display is a homecoming for Coulter, who grew up in Millgrove.

“When I was a young person I didn’t really know so much about art or photography,” he said.

“I left Millgrove and came to study in Melbourne and developed my art practice over a number of years.

“This was about reconnecting to the community

“It was a homecoming, connecting people with my art practice.”

Coulter captured locals in corporate-style headshots.

“I’m interested in those people that don’t necessarily get them,” he said.

“It highlights an absence in a form of representation and a form of photography.

“The corporate portrait is often considered a standard type of photograph.

“I was curious about the people that were missing from that form of representation or putting people through that process because inevitably something else occurs.

“The personality of the sitter is greater than the format of the photograph.

“What we see presented is not so much the corporate image of the Upper Yarra Valley but the community of the Upper Yarra Valley.”

Corporate Portraits is on display at Warburton Arts Centre until Tuesday 7 August.