Ian Kemp - photographer Soldiers Hill Collective

Ian Kemp is a photographer who belongs to the Soldiers Hill Art Collective, (SHAC) a diverse group whose objective is to maintain an open and inclusive collective that is focused on promoting local arts and artists, whilst reinforcing the positive social benefit of the arts within our immediate community.

Ian will open his studio, which happens to double as his apartment to showcase his photographs during the Ballarat Open Studios and SHAC Art Walk. We caught up with Ian in his studio and asked him a few questions about his art practice as her prepares for the Open Studios in April 2020.

How long have you been in Ballarat and what prompted you to move here?

I’ve been in Ballarat just over 5 years now. There were lots of reasons why I moved here, mostly personal. I was looking for a new start in my life. I wanted to live in a bigger city. I already owned my current house. Where I had been living was too large to manage on my own. I had begun studying photography in Melbourne and Ballarat was an hour closer to my college. And don’t laugh at this, the climate. I wanted to experience four seasons.

How did your journey as an artist/photographer begin?

It was purely a random decision. I had become isolated in my grief after my wife had died and I knew I needed to join a group of some sort. Solitude has its benefits but too much is not a good thing. By chance it was a camera club. I knew nothing about photography. I owned a point and shoot camera but that was all. The club was very good at teaching me the fundamentals but when I thought I was learning a little too slowly, I undertook four years of part time study at Photography Studies College in Melbourne and I graduated in 2017. I just loved that experience of being a student again. In my final year I chose to specialise in fine art photography, it’s a choice that I never regretted.

How would you describe your arts practice?

At heart I am a fine art photographer, but it takes time to become established in this area. If you look at my work, you will see that it is usually underpinned by some concept that binds the work together. I find that I cannot stay, nor do I want to stay, in the same genre all of the time. So when you look at the body of my work you will see that I like portrait photography, travel, music and landscape. But I usually shoot all of this work underpinned by what I learnt in fine art. ‘The images that I make are not what I see through the lens of my camera’ kind of sums my practice up.

I am currently staging my first solo exhibition at the Mercure in Ballarat and eventually I would like to be represented in a gallery somewhere. Like all artists I’d like to be able to sell more of my work. That’s difficult.

How would you describe the creative community in Ballarat

I haven’t seen it all so it is hard to form an opinion. I am heavily involved with SHAC and I like the way that we work together on projects that lead to new work. I’ve also been the volunteer coordinator for BIFB in 2015 and 2017. That was fun and a lot of hard work, but enjoyable and I learnt so much about exhibitions and the high standard of international artists. I think the recently adopted Creative City Strategy is a bold and positive by the City of Ballarat. It provides a framework for artists to grow their creative practice and it broadens what is traditionally seen as creative practice. That’s a great thing.

What are you working on right now?

Lots of things. In the fine art field I am developing a body of work on the theme of ‘They are us’ and whilst I only need one image for the ekphrastic exhibition I am in, I have a lot of other images that will complete this as a significant body of work.

What could people expect when they visit your home/studio during the Ballarat Open Studio program?

Well I’m planning to put up a range of work to show different styles that I have played with. And they can expect me to give the background to the images. Things like, why I chose a particular subject matter; why it was shot in that particular style; shooting a concept.

I’m also preparing two artist talks which will be wide-ranging and pitched at whatever level the participant are at. The theme for the talks is taking your work to the next level, whatever that might be. And if you are ahead of me then I will listen to you.