Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential if you want to attend in person.

The event will be available to view live online via the Library's Facebook page and YouTube channel. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online.

Following the discussion in the Theatre, Helen Ennis will be available for book signings in the Foyer.

About Max Dupain: A Portrait

From multi-award-winning writer Helen Ennis comes the first ever biography of the photographer Max Dupain, the most influential Australian photographer of the 20th century and creator of many iconic images that have passed into our national imagination.

Max Dupain (1911-1992) was a major cultural figure in Australia who was at the forefront of the visual arts in a career spanning more than fifty years. During this time he produced a number of images now regarded as iconic. He championed modern photography and a distinctive Australian approach.

However, to date, Dupain has been seen mostly in one-dimensional, limited and limiting terms – as exceptional, as super masculine, as an Australian hero. But this landmark biography approaches him as a complex and contradictory figure who, despite the apparent certitude of his photographic style, was filled with self-doubt and anxiety. Dupain was a Romantic and a rationalist and struggled with the intensity of his emotions and reactions. He wanted simplicity in his art and life but found it difficult to attain. He never wanted to be ordinary.

Examining the sources of his creativity – literature, art, music – alongside his approach to masculinity, love, the body, war and nature, Max Dupain: A Portrait  reveals a driven artist, one whose relationship to his work has been described as 'ferocious' and 'painful to watch'.

About Helen Ennis

Helen Ennis writes on Australian photography and her latest book, Max Dupain: A Portrait (2024), is her third biography. Helen is Emeritus Professor, Australian National University, where she was Director of the Centre for Art History and Art Theory from 2014 to 2018. She was formerly trained as a curator at the National Gallery of Australia where she headed the Department of Photography from 1985 to 1992 and has worked extensively as a freelance curator, including for the National Library of Australia.

Her numerous publications include Intersections: Photography, history and the National Library of Australia, Reveries: Photography and Mortality, Photography and Australia, and award-winning biographies of Margaret Michaelis and Olive Cotton. Helen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and in 2021 was awarded the J Dudley Johnson Medal by the British Royal Photographic Society for her contribution to the history of photography.

About Alex Sloan

Alex Sloan AM has been a journalist for over 30 years, including as a long-time broadcaster with the ABC. In 2017 Alex was named Canberra Citizen of the Year. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for her significant service to the community and to the broadcast media as a radio presenter. Alex is deputy chair of The Australia Institute and a director of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.