Michael Aird's exhibition, ‘Captured,’ features the works of four early Brisbane photographers.
These include John Watson, William Knight, Thomas Bevan and Daniel Marquis.
The exhibition includes approximately 50 original photographs and 170 digital copies depicting the years between 1860 and 1890.
The Aboriginal people of this time were considered ‘exotic postcard material’ by collectors in Europe, and were therefore seen as profitable business assets.
“I think that these old Aboriginal people of the time, I think they were well aware that the photographers wanted to profit from their images and I'm quite confident they would have demanded some sort of payment or extracted something out of them, maybe some tobacco or a new pipe or some form of payment so that they could be compensated knowing that the photographer would profit from them down the track,” said Mr Aird.
The photos on display were all taken within a square kilometre of the exhibition location in Brisbane CBD.
‘Captured’ will be held at the Brisbane Museum until June.
