A touring exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum that shines a light on life at home during World War II will open at Orange Regional Museum on Friday 3 November.
Capturing the Home Front: Life at home in a world at war features 48 stunning photographs captured by famous American photojournalist Dorothea Lange and Australian photographers Samuel Hood, William Cranstone, Hedley Keith Cullen and Jim Fitzpatrick.
Orange City Council's Services Policy Committee Chair, Cr Mel McDonell said the exhibition offered an insight into everyday life in Australia and the USA during World War II.
View from window of the Wartime Civil Control Administration Station. Photo Dorothea Lange. Reproduction. Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division National Archives and Records Administration
"This exhibition provides an important opportunity for people to share the stories and understand the impact of war through the eyes of everyday people almost 80 years ago," Cr McDonell said.
Reproduced from national and international collections, the images reveal the remarkable parallels between Australia and the USA during the Pacific war including in industry, family life, the role of women and Japanese internment.
The images range from candid records that capture the intimacy of unplanned encounters between photographer and subject, to modernist techniques used to portray industry, to the deliberately composed scenes of soft propaganda.
"I encourage residents to take the opportunity to view these historic images while they are on display right here in Orange," Cr McDonell said.
Capturing the Home Front: Life at home in a world at war will be opened by Mayor Jason Hamling at 6pm at Orange Regional Museum on Friday 3 November.
Join exhibition curator Richard Wood for Curator Conversations, a free floor talk about the stunning images, at 10am in the Museum the following morning, Saturday 4 November.
Mr Wood has worked in museums, cultural centres and heritage sites in Australia and internationally for more than 30 years as a project manager and science, technology and history educator, designer, curator and interpreter. He now curates and manages the museum's USA Programs which explore the maritime relationship between Australia and the USA and are funded by the 1988 USA Bicentennial Gift to Australia.
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