Australian photographer Helen Grace will take a media archeological journey through the life of plastic cameras, copies and 'shanzhai' objects, beginning with the Instamatic revolution and its East Asian imitations: the world of plastics and toys and injection moulding.

We will venture into the geopolitics of camera production, East and West, before considering the meaning of photo filters and Instagram. We'll look at the return of 'analogue nostalgia' in Lomography and the Holga, and their relation to higher end hi-tech production in optics and technical systems research – the business of competitive global markets and military contracts as well as cheap everyday toys.

This program is part of the final residency in 2022 for artist Helen Grace and curator/writer Julie Ewington called Projects/Projections. In this culminating residency Grace and Ewington will work with locally-based creatives, and will also scope future events. These forward projections include a workshop to  develop photographic and video projections in public spaces, and the development of a solo exhibition for 2023 for a Wagga Wagga artist.  Grace and Ewington will also contribute to the Future Photographers Lab being presented by F. Stop Workshop in the Gallery’s New Media and Project Lab.