A History of Photography Three–Week Course

Daniel Palmer is a Professor in the School of Art at RMIT University where he leads the Art History and Theory program. A former curator at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Palmer, has taught the history and theory of photography for over twenty years at the University of Melbourne, Photography Studies College, Monash University and RMIT University. Well known in Australia and internationally for his writings on photography, Palmer’s books include Installation View: Photography Exhibitions in Australia 1848–2020 (Perimeter Editions 2021) with Martyn Jolly; Photography and Collaboration: From Conceptual Art to Crowdsourcing (Bloomsbury 2017); The Culture of Photography in Public Space (Intellect 2015), edited with Anne Marsh and Melissa Miles; and Twelve Australian Photo Artists (Piper Press, 2009), co-authored with Blair French. The recipient of multiple awards and grants, his scholarly writings on photography and contemporary art have appeared in journals such as Photographies, Philosophy of Photography, History of Photography and Photography and Culture.

Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis is a proud Pitta Pitta woman, artist and researcher. Her work challenges colonial image-making practices and interrogates the biases embedded within different imaging technologies. Spanning photography, moving image and spoken word, her practice is informed by family stories, oral histories and archival research. Romanis recently completed a PhD at Monash University through the Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab in the Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture. In 2025, she was a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, held on Larrakia Country in Darwin. 

Katrin Koenning is an artist and educator working across still and moving images and text, at times including found materials, painting and collage. Situated at the intersection of the personal and the political, her practice centres themes of relation, intimacy and connection, often positing imaginaries with a greater-than-human world. Katrin uses fragments and slippages to suggest narrative spaces, communities and lived experiences that are allied and multiplicit. Regularly contributing to educational programs, she works closely with organisations and festivals across the Asia-Pacific region including Angkor Photo Festival, Photo Kathmandu, Pathshala South Asian Media Academy and Offset Projects. Koenning is the recipient of multiple awards and her work is exhibited in Australia and internationally. She lives and works in Naarm on unceded Wurundjeri Country.

Patrick Pound is an artist and writer working with collections of images and objects as if on a dare. From Melbourne to Mannheim to Madrid, Pound has worked with Museum collections, alongside his photo-collection artworks. Recent museum exhibitions include: Photography and Touch, Princeton University Art Museum, 2024, curated by Susan Bright and Susannah Baker-Smith. A Trillion Sunsets: A Century of Image Overload, 2022, curated by David Campany, at the International Center for Photography, New York; Chennai Photo Biennale, India, 2021. The Lives & Loves of Images, curated by David Campany, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, 2020; Shadow catchers, curated by Isobel Parker Philip, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2020; Déjà vu, curated by Susan Bright, Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid; Water, curated by Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Queensland Art Gallery; Contemporary Photography from Australia, The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, 2019. His NGV survey show, Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition, was curated by Maggie Finch in 2017. Pound’s most Recent book Double Feature, published by St Lucy Books, Baltimore features over 200 vernacular images from his collections accompanied by texts from 44 international writers.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand key moments, movements, and critical debates in the history of photography
• Learn and apply foundational concepts from photographic theory to the interpretation of images
• Critically explore and consider contemporary debates around photography in digital and networked culture

Week One: Conception, Experimentation and Colonialism
The course begins with the public announcement of photography in 1839, when Louis Daguerre introduced the daguerreotype in Paris and William Henry Fox Talbot unveiled his experiments in London. We trace the rapid expansion of the medium across the nineteenth century as photography emerged simultaneously as a scientific innovation, a commercial and artistic enterprise, and a cultural form entangled with colonialism.

Guest Speaker: Jahkarli Romanis

Week Two: Photographic Modernisms and the Documentary Tradition
The second week introduces the international Pictorialist movement before turning to photographic modernism in the early twentieth century – movements such as New Objectivity, New Vision and Surrealism. We also explore the documentary tradition and its relationship to art, from early social documentary practices to the institutionalisation of photojournalism and the post-WWII transformation of documentary.

Guest Speaker: Katrin Koenning

Week Three: Photography in Contemporary Art
In our final session, we explore the expanded field of photography in art since the late 1960s, tracing how artists have redefined the medium in relation to conceptualism, performance, postmodernism and digital media. We consider serial projects and large-scale colour work, staged photography and debates around representation and identity, before turning to contemporary practices shaped by globalisation and networked digital

Guest Speaker: Patrick Pound

Each week will include illustrated presentations by the course facilitator, Professor Daniel Palmer, plus informal talks and conversations with a weekly guest speaker to further unpack that week’s topic.

Participants will also receive a resource pack ahead of the first session. The pack will include a course overview, a list of key artworks, a recommended reading list and self-guided activities to deepen engagement with the themes explored.

The course will take place on Saturdays on 3, 10 & 17 October.

Sessions will run from 10.30am–1.30pm and will be held onsite at NGV International.

$400 Members / $450 Adult / $425 Concession, Student & Educator
+ $5.50 Booking Fee

Enrol in more than one course to receive a 10% discount.

NGV Members, educators and students receive discounted enrolment to all NGV Art School courses.

Your course enrolment includes access to three in-person sessions at NGV International on 3, 10 & 17 October plus a resource pack featuring a list of key artworks, a recommended reading list and self-guided activities to support your learning.

A History of Photography offers an inspiring and creative professional learning opportunity for teachers of all levels and subjects. This course meets the following AITSL standards:

• Know the content and how to teach it (2.1)
• Engage in professional learning (6.1)
• Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community (7.4)

A certificate of professional learning is available on request.