Photography / “Canberra Raiders 40 Years in the Limelight”. At Canberra Museum and Gallery until May 21. Reviewed by CON BOEKEL

MAL Meninga broke his arm the year we moved to Canberra, we soon came to understand that this was as close to a national tragedy as Canberrans were ever likely to experience.

I visited this exhibition with the aim of reviewing the contribution of the photos and also to get a feel for how the Green Machine has been part of our lives.

Technically, most of the photographs are proficient but ordinary. One is spectacularly bad. A couple are excellent. The photographers are not named. The shots consist mainly of posed studio shots, posed shots of teams, and posed shots of personalities. As photos, there is nothing to distinguish such shots from myriads of other posed shots.

The remarkable exceptions are two photos of Mal Meninga holding up the Premiership Cup in front of an adoring throng in the heart of Canberra. These triggered a visual memory of images of Lenin addressing the revolutionary mob.

I once spent a winter of Canberra Saturdays living dangerously. I was capturing shots of football action. It was challenging. Getting the fingers to move in sub-zero temperatures was a challenge. Being in the right place and at the right time was a challenge. Getting the framing right was a challenge. Getting the camera settings lined up was a challenge. Not getting crushed by several hundred kilograms of thundering flesh and bone was also a challenge.

I had anticipated that 40 years of Raiders games might have yielded some high-quality action shots and that some of these might have made it into the exhibition. But, no.

There is one action shot. Technically it is poor. It has the quality of a frame cut from an elderly video. “Ooh, gross!” I overheard as a couple of exhibition attendees focused on the shot. It shows Ricky Stuart’s foot at a very bad angle to the rest of his leg. It shows his grimace of agony. It shows a concerned team mate bending over him. Some nameless person has captured the moment. Technical quality is not required.

I eavesdropped on some Raider’s fans who were enjoying the exhibition while I was there. They did not care at all about the quality of the photos. They were identifying players, places, moments in games, and sharing memories. They responded to the content of the photos (and to the large variety of exhibit items) with enthusiasm. In marketing terms, the photos in this exhibition are “relatable”.

What is striking about the people in the photos is that they are nearly all men. Despite a 2000 year gap, it is reminiscent of the Ancient Greeks exhibition over at the National Museum: “Athletes, Warriors and Heroes”. The formation of a woman’s team is therefore overdue and welcome. Other than that, the Raiders are very active in community service, for which they deserve much team and individual praise.

Do not go to this exhibition if you want to look at photos for photos’ sake. That said, the two 1922 historical photos are intriguing. Viktor the Viking gets a jersey. There is a Hard Quiz Stand. Sadly, there is no glass of green milk. More baffling still, there is no photo of Mal with a broken arm.

The exhibition is well-curated by Hannah Paddon. If you are a Canberran or a Queanbeyan, do visit. There is plenty to enjoy even if you are not a Green Machine tragic.