Murray Fredericks

06/08/2026

https://opera.org.au/productions/the-drovers-wife-sydney/

Every now and then, you’re lucky enough to work on a project that stays with you. Long after the job is finished, you still think about the people, the places and the experience of making it.

For me, The Drover’s Wife, and the privilege of working alongside Leah Purcell and Bain Stewart, has been one of those rare experiences.

Leah Purcell didn’t simply adapt Henry Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife, she reimagined it. Drawing inspiration from Lawson’s iconic short story, she gave voice to Molly Johnson and reshaped the narrative through First Nations and female perspectives, creating a remarkable body of work that has evolved from an award-winning stage play to a novel, feature film and now opera.

I was fortunate to work closely with Leah and Bain during the making of the film, capturing the changing seasons of the Snowy Mountains in timelapse and assisting with the scouting of locations and key sites that would become part of the film’s visual language.

I’m especially proud to hear that some of those timelapse sequences have found a new life in the opera production. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing images created for one telling of the story become part of another, as The Drover’s Wife continues to evolve through new artistic forms.

Congratulations to Leah, Bain and the entire creative team on bringing this latest incarnation to life. I can’t wait to experience the premiere at the Sydney Opera House this Friday.

And if you’re thinking of going, don’t leave it too long—there are only four performances.

Emotional melodies, lush orchestration and operatic grandeur meet contemporary Aboriginal storytelling.

06/08/2026

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2026/07/murray-fredericks/

Long-term projects have shaped much of my photographic life. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk about the ideas, experiences and landscapes behind them.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with On Landscape to discuss the projects that have defined my practice, and why I’m drawn to places that reward patience, persistence and repeated visits over many years.

We talk about everything from my long-term work on Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre and the Dog Fence Project, to the role of time, isolation and landscape in my photography, along with some of the practical realities of working in remote Australia.

A sincere thank you to the On Landscape team for such a thoughtful conversation.

If you’re interested in the stories behind the photographs, I’d love for you to have a read.

When I spend extended periods in remote places, working on a project, my mind tends to become calmer and clearer. Life simplifies.

31/03/2026

Camera Murray Fredericks
Original Score Tom Schutzinger
Filmed on Baakantji and Arabana Country, with respect to Traditional Custodians

In early 2023, Murray Fredericks was engaged by Blackfella Films and the ABC to work on the documentary film, “the Story of Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe. Fredericks is often engaged by documentary, drama and cinema productions as time-lapse specialist. In this case, Fredericks had the privilege of being asked to capture the EMU as it passed over Mithaka Country in SW QLD and again over the Lakes in Menindee in Baarkanji country.

After the production was complete, Fredericks found himself out at the Salt Lake and again on the Darling-Baarka Ananbranch where he kept filming the Emu using the methods developed for the documentary. This work ’Three Emus’ results from work recorded during that time. In recognition of the book and film Dark emu, Fredericks dedicates this work to Bruce Pasco’s Dark Emu’s project.

22/05/2025

Warning: This video discusses themes of su***de.There’s a crisis happening in Australia – and each year it is getting worse.Aboriginal adults die by su***de ...

13/03/2025

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/mar/12/sculpture-fire-australian-lake-murray-fredericks-best-photograph

Wonderful write-up from The Guardian on my current exhibition at Hamiltons Gallery, London. Honoured to see this project featured—sculpting with fire and photography in the vast Australian landscape. 🔥📸 ”

‘We walked three kilometres into this Australian lake, to where the water was still only a metre deep. Then we set up the gas pipe – and waited until the air was really still’

06/02/2025

Im honoured to be presenting new work from BLAZE with this incredible selection of photographers as part of FROM THE ROSTER at Hamiltons Gallery Mayfair in London.
6 February – 26 April 2025.
Hamiltons Gallery is delighted to present From the Roster. An expansive and evolving exhibition, From the Roster features significant works from many of the artists Hamiltons has had the privilege of exhibiting over its long history. Artists such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and Sir Don McCullin are presented alongside rare and unique works by Horst P. Horst, Steven Meisel, Sante D’Orazio, Peter Beard, Daidō Moriyama, Andy Warhol and many more. Ever in the pursuit of quality the gallery is pleased to showcase new works by represented artists Murray Fredericks, Roger Ballen and Philippe Garner.
The selection of works prompts reflections on changing tastes within not only the photography market but the art world at large. By bringing these works into conversation with each other, From the Roster traces a lineage of taste-making and prompts ever-relevant conversations about capturing the evolving world we live in. Ultimately, the exhibition returns to the essential question- where do we look and how?
Throughout the course of the exhibition we will be using Instagram to spotlight the many artists represented in the show and celebrate their long-standing relationships with Hamiltons!
Please enquire at Hilton's for pricing and availability.

Image: Blaze # 24, 2023, © Murray Fredericks

12/02/2024

Stunning stuff. This is ‘BLAZE 28’ [2023] by Australian photographer (featuring Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre) - part of ‘The Salt Lake’ exhibition @ the Museum of Australian Photography in Melbourne 🤍🤍🤍

12/02/2024

Murray Fredericks
Salt

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11/12/2023

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/months-alone-and-a-50-kilo-pack-the-murray-fredericks-guide-to-photography-20231129-p5enu9.html

There’s landscape, and then there’s a Murray Fredericks landscape – and the story of how he got there is on display in a major retrospective.

27/11/2023

For those in Melbourne, BLAZE is opening at ARC ONE on Tuesday evening. Come and celebrate the opening with us from 6-8pm.
In front of an artwork by Murray Fredericks, viewers often don’t quite believe what they are seeing. This is intentional, the artist aims to capture nature existing at the limits of human understanding. For some time now, Fredericks’ has been interested in “getting a response to infinity and a response to a sense of infinite space”. In the face of questions of infinity, we freeze, transfixed. In this way, the images that Fredericks makes act like spells.
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BLAZE is Fredericks’ newest series. It presents naturally flooded landscapes twinned with a temporary flash of intense flame. Between the extremes of fire and flood, between an unstoppable water system and a real (but controlled) fire, Fredericks takes apart a moment in nature.
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While they are works about the environment, Fredericks has abstracted the landscape and made it allegorical. One way he does this is by “denying elements of scale”. The horizon cuts through each of these images, appearing both near and impossibly far away. Fredericks travelled extensively to discover locations that gave off an impression of vast space. To capture this awesome scale, Fredericks creates a dramatic focal point. “In this new series,” he reflects, “I have kept that sense of space that is true to the locations and environment that all these images were produced in, but I have slipped in and made fire, flame, and – specifically – our evolutionary response to flame into central themes of the work.” In focusing on flame, Frederick captures a primal, human response to nature. In return, BLAZE has captured the imagination of audiences.