Water line, March 2008
UQ Art Museum

‘Water is central to Australian life and no photographer I’ve seen captures our love of the life aquatic in a more arresting manner than Craig. We are all water babies, and Craig has captured us at play with an originality that is often startling.’

David Williamson, Playwright.

Water line is a collection of photographs taken underwater in pools, lakes and waterways stretching from Brisbane to Fraser Island. The exhibition includes a photograph of Jodie Meares – before she became the first Mrs James Packer and swimsuit designer Jodhi Meares – performing an underwater high jump and mesmerising images of swimming squads hard at work in Musgrave Park Pool in South Brisbane.

Holmes draws on memories of carefree childhood summers spent in and around pools, an experience shared by many Australians. His predominantly black and white underwater images fit within and add new elements to a remarkable vernacular of Australian pool and beach culture.

Sandra Byron December 2007.

All photographed over a five-year time frame 1991 to 1996, I endeavoured to capture my vision of people underwater, exploring the social connection between people, in and around our swimming pools, oceans and rivers. Images in this series have been described by Sandra Byron, formally Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of NSW, as “The photographer’s involvement in producing these striking photographs seems at once removed and yet totally involved as he captured scenes that were both ordinary and extraordinary; real and abstract.”

National Gallery of Australia
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne