New book and exhibition celebrates Tasmania’s wilderness

Photographer and conservationist Chris Bell will release a new book, TRACES: The Photography of Chris Bell, to coincide with a major exhibition of his work at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) in Launceston this September.

The large-format, 116 page linen-bound book presents 50 photographs from Bell’s career. It features section-sewn binding, debossed cover design with foil titling and two paper stocks: 170gsm Mori Silk for image reproduction and uncoated stock for the foreword, essay and afterword. Matt silver gilding on the edges provides additional protection.

The book includes a foreword by QVMAG curator Jon Addison, an essay by Emeritus Professor Tim Bonyhady, and a personal reflection by Bell on his long engagement with the natural world.

Bell, who was born in Singleton, New South Wales, moved to Tasmania in 1972 to join the campaign to save Lake Pedder. He went on to help establish The Wilderness Society and the Tasmanian National Parks Association.

Over the past four decades he has published five books combining photography and writing, documenting landscapes across Tasmania and mainland Australia.

Profits from the sale of TRACES will go toward efforts to protect Tasmania’s wild and endangered environments, with the not-for-profit organisation, OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights publishing and distributing the book under their imprint ‘An Artist’s Own Book’.

The exhibition TRACES: The Photography of Chris Bell opens at QVMAG in September 2025, and pre-orders for TRACES are now open with delivery scheduled for September 2025.