O’MALLEY AND KELLY IN JAPAN

Glen O’Malley and Peter Kelly met at Prahran College of Advanced Education in 1973, and have stayed in very close contact with each other’s work since then. Kelly remained in his hometown, Melbourne, and O’Malley returned to Queensland, his home state, eventually moving to the wet tropics. They first exhibited together in O’MALLEY AND KELLY AT THE OAKS, FLEMINGTON at Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane in 1978.

Unlike the afternoon at Flemington, they did not travel to Japan together. Kelly has visited Japan once in 1988. O’Malley first went in 1989 and has has since visited a further eight times. Both love the culture of Japan, which is complex and contains tradition and modernity, is both relaxed and formal, is familiar and alien to Australians, but always seemingly in relaxed contradiction. For both photographers, this selection of photos shows these dichotomies.