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A new exhibition opening at the National Portrait Gallery next month celebrates the rise of surf culture in Australia with 40 photos by Tracks magazine co-founder John Witzig.

Arcadia: Sound of the Sea expresses the free-spirited, revolutionary character of a group of young Australians in the early 1970s who veered away from mainstream society to pursue a life centred on surfing and a rapidly evolving youth culture.

Along with photographs by Witzig, the exhibition includes seven large ink drawings by Nicholas Harding and film footage from Albert Falzon’s Morning of the Earth. 

"Together, photographs, film and drawings evoke textures and odours: Salt and fresh water, wet and dry sand, dune vegetation, undergrowth, tent canvas, floors of vans and shacks, weatherboards, hand-knitted jumpers, thin old t-shirts, corduroy, spongy neoprene, stiff hair, dog fur, noses and claws, banksia pods, firewood, seaweed and rocks," writes exhibition curator Dr Sarah Engledow.

Arcadia: Sound of the Sea will be at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from 14 August to 26 October 2014. The exhibition is currently slated to tour Geelong and the Tweed in 2014-2015.


Kim Nelson 1971. Photo by by John Witzig.



Wayne Lynch at Possum Creek 1969. Photo by by John Witzig.



Nigel and Murray at Smiths beach 1972. Photo by John Witzig.

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