Naked photo shoot, giant golden monkey get visitors in the shot for Foto Biennale

For those too modest to strip off in the city on a Saturday evening in winter to take part in the photo shoot with West Australian photographer Lauren Crooke, and for the blokes, there are dozens of other exhibitions , events and talks as part of the biennale's opening weekend on August 26 and 27.

One of the most visible to anyone in the city will be a nine metre tall golden monkey fixed to the side of the National Centre for Photography, the historic Union Bank Building in Lydiard Street.

Lisa Roet's statue, modelled on an endangered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, has visited many countries around the world and will come to Ballarat as part of a push, along with the nude photo shoot and other installations, to encourage BIFB visitors to put themselves into pictures.

"We really wanted to incorporate into the festival this year, the opportunity to be in the photo," said BIFB director Vanessa Gerrans.

"A lot of our theme is about truth, reality and the bombardment of images we have in media, in our socials, and the use of phones to document life.

"We wanted to create an immersive experience where visitors can participate and look at and get to know artists when they visit."

The opening weekend kicks off almost two months of exhibitions across 82 different venues ranging from the drawcard Platon - People Power exhibition and other core program works in the Art Gallery of Ballarat and other well-known gallery spaces through to cafes, bars, shops, restaurants, laneways, cinemas, public transport, Ballarat Observatory and even a gelato store.

"This year we've also had quite a big representation of street photographers interested in having their works in laneways," Ms Gerrans said.

"Along with that we are featuring the 'golden hour' and we have been able to work with a few local restaurants and cafes who will be featuring tumeric lattes, golden cocktails and golden set menus during the biennale.

"That will colour the streets along with more than 2000 artworks."

Among the street photographers is Indian artist Vineet Vohra with his exhibition Here, There, Everywhere who will travel to Ballarat for the opening weekend where he will conduct a series of street photography tours and talks.

"Vineet Vohra is one of the most celebrated international street photographers of his generation," Ms Gerrans said.

"He is self taught but with a talent for capturing extraordinary ordinary moments in life, particularly in India, with his focus on serendipity. It's not always a technical photo, but we can see the creative mine and creative eye behind the camera and often it's his iPhone."

Ms Gerrans said cameras in phones had opened up the world of photography to so many more people.

"Photography has really become a universal language of our era," she said.

IN OTHER NEWS

Dozens of other artists will also be in town for opening weekend, including Platon whose world premiere People Power exhibition will see the faces of 120 well-known power players on different world stages staring back at visitors in the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

"I'm really looking forward to hearing Platon speak in person at the Regent Theatre," Ms Gerrans said. "I really think he's such a celebrity high profile speaker ... and the opportunity to hear from someone like that in Ballarat is extraordinary.

"I'm really hoping that people come along for that to hear him speak about empathy and humanity and how a photograph can be technical but 99.9 per cent is about connection with the person."

Tickets to the Ballarat International Foto Biennale are on sale from Saturday July 15 with the full program now online at ballaratfoto.org.

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