Point Light Gallery, Sydney; © Gordon Undy.
The Australian photographic community is about to see the end of an era.
Point Light Gallery founded by Gordon and Lyndell Undy in 1996 is closing this Sunday 21 December 2014. The Surrey Hills (Sydney) premises has held a treasure trove of gelatin silver and alternative process prints as well as that rapidly disappearing facility – a black and white darkroom.
James Dean Motorcycle, Winslow Farm; © George Tice, 1985.
Pygidia; © Maris Rusis, 1991.
It was from Gordon’s photographic print drawers that I was first introduced to photographs from masters like George Tice, Michael Kenna, Paul Caponigro, Ralph Gibson and Jerry Uelsmann. To be able to handle photographs from people whose work I had only seen in books was stunning. Let alone Australian photographers whose work deserves a wider audience and acclaim. The likes of Queensland photographers Maris Rusis, Zigi Georges and Ian Williams were also held by Point Light.
Undy had maintained a solid and dogmatic policy of promoting, showing and debating “old school” photography. Most work exhibited was gelatin silver based, but there was room for alternative process output. With this strong raison d’être, Point Light was a sanctuary for like minded photographers. This photographic genre was passionately supported, promoted and defended.
The length of operation draws the obvious contrast with Imagery Gallery. Owned and operated by Ruby and Doug Spowart, Imagery operated for a similar length of time, based in Brisbane. The loss of these two specialist galleries will be a sad loss to Australian photography.
It is highly recommended that any Sydney-siders with an interest in fine quality photographs make a mad dash to Point Light this weekend and beg Gordon or Lyndell to show you one or two master pieces from those fabulous filing drawers.
Fare thee well!
Philosopher’s Tree, Study 3, Biei, Hokkaido, Japan; © Michael Kenna, 2009
poolefoto 
Hi Ian – Interesting to see this post and hear the news about Point Light’s closure. Galleries like these are at once a treasure and also a labour of love and what it takes to maintain the place serving the amazing communities that grow around them is huge. The recent closure in Queensland of the QCP venue was another such loss to the photo gallery world in Australia. One other interesting point is that Gordon Undy has his first solo show at Imagery Gallery in 1994…
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