Trent Parke


Trent Parke is an Australian photographer. He is the husband of Narelle Autio, with whom he often collaborates. He has created a number of photography books; won numerous national and international awards including four World Press Photo awards; and his photographs are held in numerous public and private collections. He is a member of Magnum Photos.

Early life

Parke was born and brought up in Newcastle, New South Wales. He started photography when he was twelve. At age 13 he watched his mother die from an asthma attack.

Career

Parke has worked as a photojournalist for The Australian newspaper.
In 2003 he and his wife, the photographer Narelle Autio, made a 90,000 km trip around Australia, resulting in Parke's books Minutes to Midnight and The Black Rose.
Parke became a member of the In-Public street photography collective in 2001. He became a Magnum Photos nominee in 2002 and a member in 2007; the first Australian invited to join.

Selected publications

As author

  • Dream/Life. Kirribilli, N.S.W, Australia: Hot Chilli Press, 1999..
  • The Seventh Wave: Photographs of Australian Beaches. Kirribilli, N.S.W, Australia: Hot Chilli Press, 2000. Hardback. Paperback. With Narelle Autio. Includes an essay on the beach in Australian culture by Robert Drewe.
  • Minutes to Midnight. Paris: Filigranes Éditions, 2005. 32 pages, 20 plates, paperback..
  • Bedknobs & Broomsticks. St. Paul, Minnesota: Little Brown Mushroom, 2010..
  • The Christmas Tree Bucket – Trent Parke's Family Album. Göttingen: Steidl, 2013..
  • Minutes to Midnight. Göttingen: Steidl, 2013. 96 pages, hardback..
  • *Göttingen: Steidl, 2014. 96 pages, hardback..
  • The Black Rose. Adelaide, Australia: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2015. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia, 14 March – 10 May 2015.
  • Crimson Line. London: Stanley/Barker, 2020..
  • *Second edition with subtle changes. London: Stanley/Barker, 2021..
  • Cue The Sun. London: Stanley/Barker, 2021..

    As contributor

  • So now then. Cardiff: Ffotogallery, 2006.. Edited by Paul Seawright and Christopher Coppock. Photographs by Parke, Shelby Lee Adams, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Chien-Chi Chang, Weng Fen, Julio Grinblatt, An-My Lê Susan Meiselas, Boris Mikhailov, Simon Norfolk, Paul Shambroom, Massimo Vitali and Michael Wesely. Essays by David Campany, "Straight pictures of a crooked world"; Martha Langford, "What use is photography"; and Jan-Erik Lundström, "Look and tell: some further thoughts on the documentary genre". An anthology of international documentary photography commissioned by Hereford Photo Festival. Edition of 1000.
  • A Year in Photography: Magnum Archive. Munich: Prestel; New York, Paris, London, Tokyo: Magnum Photos, 2010..
  • 10 – 10 Years of In-Public. London: Nick Turpin, 2010..
  • Magnum Contact Sheets. Edited by Kristen Lubben.
  • *Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011..
  • *Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.. Compact edition.
  • *Magnum Contact Sheets: Trent Parke, The Seventh Wave, 2000. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011..
  • The Street Photographer's Manual. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.. By David Gibson. Includes a chapter on Parke.
  • The World Atlas of Street Photography. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014.. Edited by Jackie Higgins. With a foreword by Max Kozloff.
  • Photographers' Sketchbooks. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.. Edited by Stephen McLaren and Bryan Formhals.
  • 100 Great Street Photographs. Munich, London, New York: Prestel, 2017. By David Gibson.. Contains a commentary on and a photograph by Parke.
  • Home. Tokyo: Magnum Photos Tokyo, 2018..

    Films

Films by Parke

  • The Summation of Force – eight channel film directed by Parke, Autio, and Matthew Bate

    Documentaries about Parke

  • Dreamlives. Directed and produced by Jennifer Crone. Includes Trent and Autio.
  • Trent Parke: The Black Rose. Directed by Catherine Hunter. Includes Parke, Autio and Geoff Dyer. Broadcast on ABC, 21 April 2015.

    Recognition and awards

and Gerry Badger say that Parke's first book Dream/Life is "as dynamic a set of street pictures as has been seen outside the United States or Japan".
Awards include:
  • 1996–1998: 5 Gold Lenses, International Olympic Committee.
  • 1999: Second prize, Daily Life category, World Press Photo Award.
  • 2000: Second prize, Daily Life stories category, World Press Photo Award 1999.
  • 2000: Canon photo essay prize, Sasakawa World Sports Awards.
  • 2001: First prize, Nature stories category, World Press Photo Award 2000, with Narelle Autio.
  • 2003: W. Eugene Smith Grant from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
  • 2005: Third prize, Daily Life category, World Press Photo Award 2004.
  • 2007: Exhibiting Finalist – Australian National Photographic Portrait Prize.
  • 2014: Winner of Photography category, Prudential Eye Awards by Global Eye Program.
  • 2014: Deutscher Fotobuchpreis 2015, Gold medal, Konzeptionell-künstlerische Fotobildbänd category, went to Steidl for Minutes to Midnight, along with three other winners.

    Exhibitions

  • 2000: The Seventh Wave – Stills Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2002: Dream/Life and The Seventh Wave – Canvas International Art Gallery, Amsterdam.
  • 2002: Dva Pivo Prosim – Stills Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2002: Sydney Treasures, Art & About, Sydney.
  • 2002: Dream/Life & Beyond – Stills Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2004: Dream/Life and The Seventh Wave – FotoFreo Photographic Festival, Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle.
  • 2004: Dream/Life and The Seventh Wave – Ariel Meyerowitz Gallery, New York.
  • 2004: Suspended States, Sydney Arts Festival.
  • 2004: Minutes to Midnight – Part One, Leica Gallery, Germany.
  • 2005: Minutes to Midnight, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
  • 2005: Colour Work, Stills Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2006: Minutes to Midnight, Wollongong City Gallery
  • 2007: Welcome to Nowhere, Stills Gallery, Sydney. Part of New Blood, Magnum Photos 60th anniversary exhibition. With Antoine D'Agata, Jonas Bendiksen, Mark Power and Alec Soth.
  • 2008: Christmas Tree Bucket, Stills Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2009: Minutes to Midnight, Children's Art Gallery, National Gallery of Australia.
  • 2009: Please step quietly everyone can hear you, Sydney Opera House.
  • 2010: Survey Show, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide.
  • 2013: To the Sea with Narelle Autio, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide.
  • 2013: The Christmas Tree Bucket, National Gallery of Australia, 20 December 2013 – 23 February 2014.
  • 2014: The Camera is God, The 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Dark Heart, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
  • 2014: The Camera is God, Hugo Michell Gallery, Adelaide.
  • 2015: The Black Rose, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 14 March – 10 May 2015. Part of the 2015 Adelaide Festival.
  • The Crimson Line, Hugo Michell Gallery, 31 October – 23 November 2019

    Collections

Parke's work is held in the following public collections: