IN THE FLESH: Photographer captures bygone era
Reporter ANDREW BACKHOUSE talks to Graham Burstow about his exhibition at the Powerhouse
IN AN era prior to the internet and digital photography, Toowoomba man Graham Burstow immortalised the Gold Coast beach culture with a series of memorable photographs.
During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the acclaimed photographer captured a relaxed and sun-kissed life filled with beer belly contests, mutton-bird tanning oil and sun girl quests.
Mr Burstow’s black and white hand-printed images show the essence of this special era of the Gold Coast. They are timeless in terms of the stories and emotions they convey.
Now he is being recognised through a Brisbane Powerhouse showing entitled Flesh: The Exhibition.
The exhibition’s photographs were taken on family holiday trips to the Gold Coast.
“We’d follow a set routine,” he said.
“The family would go for a swim, I’d photograph and my late wife Elvie Parfitt would paint while the kids looked for semi-precious stones.
“Then we’d have a barbecue and, at end of the day, we were exhausted.
“I’d buy a local paper every day and go to all the local activities which I would then photograph.
“Wherever I went, that’s what I photographed,” he said.
Mr Burstow’s involvement with the Australian Photographic Society meant he needed a large volume of pictures.
And there were plenty of beautiful subjects available with women taking advantage of new freedoms by wearing more revealing clothes.
“In keeping with the new social freedoms of the 1960s, women’s swimming costumes shrank and exposed flesh became part and parcel of the scene,” Mr Burstow said.
His pictures also caught the Gold Coast in a state of transition, with buildings being torn down to make way for the new.
And Mr Burstow managed to capture unique images.
“In those days you could just walk into construction sites and take photos,” he said.
“I thought it was a really strong subject and it wasn’t something that people took photos of.”
He said the photos looked like they were taken in a foreign country because the Gold Coast had changed so much since then.
“Some of the buildings had been built and torn down five times,” he said.
Mr Burstow’s latest book of photographs, Flesh: the Gold Coast in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, was released to coincide with the exhibition.
In keeping with the new social freedoms of the 1960s, women’s swimming costumes shrank and exposed flesh became part and parcel of the scene
—Graham Burstow