On his seventh birthday in 1970, Emmanuel Angelicas was given a plastic Diana camera by his father.
Photography would then and there become his friend and his way to communicate with people and
document the environment he lived in. With a spontaneous and straightforward approach, he wandered
around his native Marrickville and recorded the migrant communities and street life. For more than forty
years Angelicas has been capturing images of Marrickville without avoiding its darkest facets.
Angelicas’ vast archive is not limited to his signature Marrickville portfolio. He has produced compelling
collections from his travels to Thailand, Japan, Greece and Bali as well as hardcore themes and a private
collection. Whether in Marrickville, or beyond, Angelicas’ photographs are a personal account of physical
experience. Each time remaining the same photographer, he has created an all-embracing path towards
finding balance and harmony.
Emmanuel Angelicas (b. Sydney, 1963) grew up in Marrickville. He was seven years old when he started
his first photographic story in square black and whites, documenting his family, friends and
neighbourhood. He graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Visual
Communication in 1984, and a Post Graduate diploma in Professional Art Studies in 1985. In 1993 he
graduated from the University of Sydney with a diploma in Secondary School Education – Visual Art.
Managing a chronic illness for almost twenty years, he is still working in Australia and Bali. His work has
been widely collected and exhibited in Australia, Japan, Lithuania, France, Greece and The Netherlands.
Emmanuel is a co-founder and director of The Australian Museum of Contemporary Photography
This exhibition is curated by Claire Monneraye
