Arcadia: Sound of the sea, National Portrait Gallery

Previous exhibition

from Thursday 14 August until Sunday 19 October 2014

Nat Young, c. 1968 by Albert Falzon

‘By simply surfing we are supporting the revolution.’ - Nat Young.

Arcadia is an exhibition of lyrical, richly-textured photographs by John Witzig, co-founder of Tracks magazine and founder of SeaNotes, with huge ink drawings by Nicholas Harding and psychedelic film footage by Albert Falzon. Imbued with a Romantic conception of the awesome and spiritually restorative force of the sea, it expresses the free-spirited, revolutionary character of a group of young and perfectly-formed Australian surfers in the early 1970s.

John Witzig's Arcadia: a chat in the photography studio
Video: 5 minutes 41 seconds

11 portraits
view all

Nigel Coates and Murray Smith, WA, 1972 by John Witzig

Prevelly Park (Geoff Sedovic and Nigel Coates), 1971 by John Witzig

Wayne Lynch at Possum Creek, 1969 by John Witzig

1 Nigel Coates and Murray Smith, WA, 1972 by John Witzig. 2 Ted at Bells Beach, 1971 by John Witzig. 3 Bells steps, c. 1975, by John Witzig. 4 Prevelly Park (Geoff Sedovic and Nigel Coates), 1971 by John Witzig. 5 Dogs at Cactus, 1975 by John Witzig. 6 Wayne Lynch at Possum Creek, 1969 by John Witzig.

Arcadia: Sound of the sea

Exhibition introduction

One night in the spring of 1970 in an old house in Whale Beach, north of Sydney, John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick put together the first issue of Tracks, playing Neil Young’s album Harvest over and over again as they pasted up galleys of type.

Related people

Nat Young

John Witzig

Dr Sarah Engledow (curator)

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