Murray Fredericks

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.

24/11/2023

Reminder for those in Melbourne!!
The SALT LAKE Retrospective opens tomorrow from 1-3 at the Museum of Australian Photography.
This is accompanied by a cinema screening at the Jam Factory on Sunday of Salt, Vanity, 3 Emus (the new video work) and BLAZE.
On Tuesday BLAZE opens at Arc One Gallery from 6-8pm.
Come and celebrate the openings with us!

21/11/2023

Excerpt from the brand new video work entitled 'Three Emus', produced for 'The Salt Lake' retrospective at the Museum of Australian Photography opening this Saturday between 1 and 3pm.
This video work has been mastered for cinema by Craig Deeker at the Gingerbreadman and will play on the big screen this Sunday at the Jam Factory with three other short films, Salt, Blaze and Vanity.
The footage is set to a haunting, sparse soundtrack composed by Tom Schutzinger.
In March of this year I had the privilege of being commissioned to film the night sky over Mithaka Country for Bruce Pascoe's documentary feature ‘The Story of Dark Emu'.Working on the film, a process was established to record the 9 hour progression of 'the Emu' as it crosses the night sky.
Once the shoot was finished, I happened to be in a number of locations which were perfect for this way of shooting, so I just kept on going.
Three of these sequences form the piece. The title of this work recognises Bruce Pascoe's project and the way this work came about. The work is in 4k and is 10min 18sec duration.

16/11/2023

Mirror #6 120cm x 155cm 2017. 'The Salt Lake' Retrospective opens at the Museum of Australian Photography 25th of November, 1-3pm.
In classical music, a song cycle refers to different interpretations on a central theme. The Salt project has a number of distinct 'cycles', of which 'The Vanity Series' is one. The retrospective has a great selection of works from each evolution of the project - Salt, Night Works, Vanity, Array and BLAZE.
This image was the last produced on 8"x10" film as digital is still unable to perform as well with 7 hour exposures. There were many, many attempts at these images and only three were successful. There had to be no wind for the duration of the exposure and the movement arc of the stars had to be visualised correctly, both in the sky itself and the reflection in the mirror, to achieve a cohesive composition.