Tribal Gathering

Photographer Jeff Carter (1928-2010)

Date1964

Object number00027925

NamePhotograph

MediumSilver gelatin print

DimensionsMount / Matt size: 522 x 717 mm
Display dimensions (Frame): 550 x 745 x 45 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionPhotograph h by Jeff Carter titled 'Tribal Gathering'. It depicts a group of young men and women seated and standing round rows of upended surfboards embedded in the sand. Taken at Wanda Beach, 1968.HistoryStreet photography, made famous by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, was a popular genre for Australian photographers such as Jeff Carter, who explored identity and culture though images of rural and coastal Australia. Between 1959 and 1965 Carter created a series of photographs which documented the experiences of beach goers during long lazy Saturday afternoons, at local competitions and while on holiday. In 'Tribal Gathering', upended, imbedded surf boards provide a totemic backdrop to this group of surfing devotees at a carnival at Wanda Beach, near Cronulla, New South Wales in 1964. Jeff Carter became a freelance photographer in 1954, selling to magazines and journals such as Walkabout, Pix, People, Women's Weekly, Pertinent, Woman's Day, Modern Motor, Weekend, Man, Wheels, Today, Picture Post, Life, Epoca, Merian, Paris-Match, Stern, Esquire, and National Geographic. Carter began his career in rural Australia, photographing farmhands, drovers, shearers, and miners. He later returned to coast, publishing 'Surf Beaches of Australia's East Coast' in 1968. Throughout his career Carter has produced series that explore the progression of events over time. Concentrating on rituals and process, they comprise evocative images that are candid rather than posed, almost always taken using natural light.SignificanceJeff Carter photographed Australians at rest and play, capturing the diversity of those who were drawn to the beach. His photographs are a valuable document of Australian beach culture in the 1960s, with 'Tribal Gathering' providing an important record of changes in surfboard manufacture and swimwear fashions.