MELBOURNE.-“Without my photography life would be boring. Photography adds an extra dimension to my life. Somehow it confirms my place in the world.” Rennie Ellis, unpublished personal statement, c. 1989. Held in the collection of the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive.

A major exhibition featuring the work of renowned Australian photographer Rennie Ellis (1940-2003) will open at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia on 31 October 2008.

No standing only dancing: Photographs by Rennie Ellis will explore Ellis’s remarkable vision of the world through candid documentary images of contemporary Australian society.

Ellis operated as a social diarist with a camera. His incredible legacy is an archive of more than half a million images capturing the richness and diversity of contemporary life. Best known for his photographs of Australia’s vibrant social scene, his work also explored the grittier side of society exposing the darker aspects of life on the streets.

Since Ellis’s unexpected death in 2003, the National Gallery of Victoria has been engaged in a major project working with the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive to exhibit and publish his work. The result is an exhibition featuring almost 200 of Ellis’s images drawn from public and private collections across Australia.

Susan van Wyk, Curator of Photography at the NGV, said Ellis had long wished to hold an exhibition of his work at the NGV.

“Rennie Ellis was wholeheartedly engaged with life, with the absurdities, the ironies, the passion and the small dramas of the everyday. In a career that spanned forty years he avidly photographed people from all walks of life doing all manner of things,” she said.

“His legacy is a vast collection of photographs that celebrate life. The warmth of the man and his non-judgemental approach to the people he encountered is evident in his work. His photographs remain as a lasting affirmation of his times.”

No standing only dancing will focus on Ellis’s photography in the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibition includes photographs of the bars and clubs of Melbourne that Ellis frequented, images of the carefree hippy culture of the 1970s, outdoor music festivals and his ‘celebrity’ portraits showing well known Australian figures in unusual or intimate settings.

A highlight of No standing only dancing is Ellis’s Kings Cross series – photographed over the summer of 1970-71. Ellis and fellow photographer Wesley Stacey frequently visited Kings Cross in Sydney, photographing local residents and visitors in what was widely regarded as the centre of vice and counter culture in Sydney, if not Australia, at the time.

Ellis took up photography in the 1960s and threw himself into the medium full time; operating a commercial practice, exhibiting his work, running a gallery and publishing at a time when there was a great deal of enthusiasm for photography in Australia.

Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV, said Ellis was an exciting artist whose work was sure to delight and inspire visitors to the National Gallery of Victoria.

“Rennie’s photographs reveal a remarkable talent for seeing and understanding the world and people,” he said.

“We hope this exhibition will introduce Ellis to a new audience and reposition him in the recent history of Australian photography.”

No standing only dancing: Photographs by Rennie Ellis will be on display on Level 3 of The Ian Potter: NGV Australia, Federation Square from 31 October 2008 – 22 February 2009, 10am-5pm, closed Mondays. Entry is free.