RICHARD WOLDENDORP: A View from Above/Celebrating 60 years of photography

Mundaring Arts Centre, 19th April – 8th June 2025

Through the lens of his camera, Woldendorp has revealed the vast and ever-changing landscapes of Australia for over six decades.  This survey of aerial photographs celebrates his vision for the life within the landforms, their complex patterns and breathtaking scale.

Entrance to the exhibition showing Woldendorp’s Professional Photographer of the Year award from 1982, and his award winning photograph.

Part of the exhibition

Showcase celebrating some of Woldendorp’s 60 years in photography

The Hills: An Artists’ Gathering

Holmes a Court Gallery @ Vasse Felix, 13th April - 22nd June, 2025

As the fourth instalment of their series of Collection Focus exhibitions, The Hills: An Artists’ Gathering features the work of 28 artists from the heart of the Janet Holmes a Court Collections.  Richard Woldendorp is represented with a black & white photograph of Xanthorrhoea.  

On the fringes of Perth, the Hills have been and continue to be an area of rich artistic activity.  They nurture the spirit and creative imagination of many artists.  From the 1960’s there emerged an artist’s colony, of sorts.  Described candidly as ‘an arty bohemian enclave’, it was a place where creative minds and hearts gathered, a place to form community, to work, to bicker, to celebrate, to build lives and create.

Part of the gallery showing Woldendorp’s black & white photograph of Xanthorrhoea (top).

Woldendorp’s Xanthorrhoea photograph

WILDER TIMES - Arthur Boyd and the mid-1980s landscape

Bundanon, 6th July – 13th October, 2024

The genesis of this exhibition is Arthur Boyd’s commission for Arts Centre Melbourne, a series of fourteen large-scale paintings created at Bundanon in 1984, a testament to the artist’s love of the natural environment and his commitment to protecting it.

The second part draws on works by 23 artists.  All challenged pre-conceived notions of the landscape and its role in the prevailing narratives of national identity, greatly influencing subsequent generations of artists.  Importantly, the 1980’s was a decade when the wealth of Indigenous cultural knowledge was starting to be acknowledged.

Richard Woldendorp’s photography documents the character of the Australian landscape from the air, with a sense of wonder and awe, personal to Woldendorp’s eye.

Wilder Times photography exhibition

Entrance to the Wilder Times exhibition.

Four of Woldendorp’s landscape photographs in the Wilder Times exhibition.

Contours: Aerial impressions of a Complex Landscape

Manjimup Art Gallery, W.A., 16th February to 22nd March 2024

Almost a year after Richard’s passing, an exhibition of his aerial photographs spanning several decades, was shown.

Richard’s wife, Lyn opened the exhibition and spoke of his work and passion for photography that continued well into his 90’s.

Poster for the exhibition at Manjimup Art Gallery

Richard’s wife, Lyn, opening the exhibition

Darlington Arts Festival Tribute to Richard

The Darlington Arts Festival paid tribute to Richard with a small display of photographs and books at the November 2023 festival.

The Woldendorp family had been Darlington residents since the 1960s and always enjoyed the annual Darlington Arts Festival. Richard had exhibited at the event on several occasions and had been a patron for many years. It was therefore fitting that this tribute was in the place where Richard lived when he first established himself as a professional photographer.

ProPhotography Award for Landscape Photography in Honour of Richard Woldendorp

ProPhotograhy WA, who present the annual Ilford Orlof Awards for photography, created ‘The Richard Woldendorp Award’ for landscape photography in honour of Richard.

The award depicts one of Richard’s aerial photographs, the Forrest River in the Kimberley taken in 2003.

The 2023 award went to Tony Hewitt, presented on 14 September. Lyn Woldendorp, presented the award, which was accepted by Tony’s wife as he could not be at the awards in person.

Tony Hewitt’s wife accepts ‘The Richard Woldendorp Award’ from Lyn Woldendorp

Tribute by Mundaring Arts Centre, WA

In honour of Richard’s life’s work as one of Australia’s most prominent photographers, and as a local of Mundaring area in the Perth hills, the Mundaring Arts Centre had a tribute to Richard in May 2023.

Richard, and wife Lyn, were life-time members of the Mundaring Arts Centre, and Richard had previously exhibited his photographs there.

'Out of the Blue' Book Launch

 
Front cover.jpg
 

Richard’s latest book of photographs capturing Australia from the air will be launched next month:

7th November 2013 - Art Gallery of Western Australia

12th November 2013 - National Library, Canberra.

‘Out of the Blue’ is available from leading bookstores.