This working life: from the collection

Horsham Regional Art Gallery is pleased to present This working life, an exhibition of photography drawn entirely from the Gallery collection. Exploring the many ways Australians work, contribute to, and care for their communities and spanning more than a century, these images reveal labour not as an abstract idea but as lived experience shaped by hands, bodies, relationships and place.

From early twentieth‑century rural industry to the factories, offices and newsrooms of the post‑war decades and into contemporary workplaces, the exhibition traces shifting landscapes of work. We see farmers, machinists, rope makers, firefighters, refugees, printers, miners and scientists. Some labour in paddocks and foundries, others under fluorescent light or in moments of crisis. Each photograph honours the skill, resilience and quiet dignity of its subjects.

The exhibition features works by Robert Ashton, Samuel George Cahill, Harold Cazneaux, Norman Deck, John Immig, Con Kroker, Jesse Marlow, Bruce Postle, Ross Schultz, Wolfgang Sievers, Matthew Sleeth, Mark Strizic, Ian Ward and John Werrett. Their approaches range from modernist precision to documentary intimacy and photojournalistic urgency, reminding us that photography does more than record work—it shapes how labour is seen, remembered and valued.

Since its early years, Horsham Regional Art Gallery has held a strong commitment to collecting and exhibiting photography. This exhibition draws on that depth, reflecting the Gallery’s ongoing interest in how the camera observes the world and preserves the texture of everyday life.

At its heart, This working life is about people. At a time where artificial intelligence is redefining the nature of our working lives, these photographs invite us to look closely at gestures that echo across generations—lifting, stitching, coding, hauling, tending, carrying. In these moments, we glimpse not only the structure of work but the humanity within it. This working life asks us to recognise the workers who sustain our communities and to consider how their stories become part of our shared history.