Juvenilia brings together for the first time 100 astonishing photographs of friends and family taken by renowned Victorian artist Peter Milne when he was a very young man. Warm, intimate, surprising and already displaying the great compositional skills, originality and humour for which Milne is known, these images offer an unprecedented peep into mid 1970s to mid 1980s Melbourne and a milieu of people who would go on to play pivotal roles in Melbourne’s burgeoning cultural scene.
Starting in 1976 when Milne was 16 and photographing school friends Gina Riley and Rowland S Howard, through to images of the legendary band, the Boys Next Door lounging in Nick Cave’s bedroom in his parents’ house, the first Boys Next Door gig and photo shoot, parties, trips to the country, outings to the beach, rehearsals and a full length photo essay tracing ‘A Day in the Life of Rowland S Howard’, the photographs feature a dazzling cast including Anita Lane, Blixa Bargeld, Tony Clark, Polly Borland and Mick Harvey as well as Milne’s less famous but equally interesting friends and family.
Peter Milne is based in Castlemaine. He has exhibited extensively around Australia and internationally. He has had three monographs of his work published: ‘When Nature Forgets’ (M.33, Melbourne, 2013), ‘Beautiful Lies – Notes Towards a History of Australia’ (QCP, Brisbane, 2011) and ‘Fish in a Barrel – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on Tour’ (Tender Prey, London, 1993). He is represented by M.33, Melbourne.
Peter Milne’s work is held in the collections of the Queensland Centre for Photography, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne; Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne; Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria; State Library of Victoria, Daryl Hewson Collection, Brisbane and the National Library of Australia, Canberra.
To be opened by Bruce Milne. Bruce Milne is Peter’s older brother. Peter documents with photography, Bruce Milne documents with recordings. Give Peter a hard time and Bruce will make you regret it.
