Trent Parke: The Black Rose (ATOM Study Guide)

Photography is an extension of every thought I have. It's almost linked to my hand in a way that it becomes part of you. I don't think about photography as making something for art or making it for the walls of a show, it's never about that. It's always for me just about finding the answers to life. That's what I'm looking for. – Trent Parke

Trent Parke is an Australian artist with an international reputation. The medium he principally works in is photography. This documentary about his life and work was made as Parke was setting up a large exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia as part of the 2015 Adelaide Festival.

The exhibition, The Black Rose, is the culmination of seven years' work for the Adelaide-based photographer. Featuring his extraordinary photographs, light boxes, video, written texts and books, the exhibition leads viewers through a visual narrative that explores ideas concerning the 'meaning of life' on both a personal and universal level.

Featuring interviews with Parke's wife, artist Narelle Autio and Art Gallery of South Australia director Nick Mitzevich, Trent Parke: The Black Rose provides a glimpse into the world of Trent Parke and the factors that inform and shape his work.

Curriculum Guidelines

This program is suitable for middle and senior secondary students as well as tertiary students working in a number of Visual Arts and Design subjects, including Photography, as well as students of Media Arts and English.