Sarah Pekin's Photo Selected for Gudinski Exhibition

Sarah Pekin, Class of 2018

I recently spoke with former MRC student Sarah Pekin, who completed Year 12 in 2018.  Sarah has 3 siblings at Mercy - Ella in Year 12, Jack in Year 10 and Meg in Year 8.  She is in the final year of a Bachelor of Photography at the Photography Studies College in South Melbourne, majoring in Photojournalism.  Sarah has a particular passion for live music photography, and has had her photograph of The Teskey Brothers selected to be exhibited in the Number One | Gudinski exhibition, at the prestigious Ballarat International Foto Biennale.  This exhibition is a tribute to the late Michael Gudinski, who was a major promoter of the Australian music industry.  In partnership with Mushroom Group and Frontier Touring, it celebrates Gudinski’s advocacy for the arts industry.  Sarah has spent much of the last 18 months in Melbourne lockdown, like many of our friends and family.  Whilst there have been few live gigs to attend, she has continued to find artistic inspiration through other things.

The image selected to exhibit was taken at a Mushroom Group After Hours event which was held at the Colonial Brewing Co in Port Melbourne in 2019.  Michael Gudisnki was an MC of this event.  He was in complete awe of The Teskey Brothers' music, telling the audience that it would be a night we would never forget, and boy was he right.  To this day, it was one of the best live music performances I have ever seen.  Witnessing Gudinski’s passion for the first time that night left a lasting impact on me.  At the time, I was new to Melbourne and had started to attend live music gigs on a weekly basis.  I was in the first year of my photography degree and was beginning to fall in love with live music photography.  I realised that people like Michael (who adore music more than anything) are the reason why I want to do what I do.  It is an honour to have been selected to be a part of this exhibition, alongside some of Australia’s most talented music photographers. 

Sarah Pekin

The works will be on display in the basement at the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute until 9 January 2022, opening to Regional Victorians from Wednesday, 15 September.

Click here for the exhibition link

Sarah is happy to share her social media details, for anyone interested in viewing her work.

Well done Sarah - your passion is clearly evident, and everyone at Mercy is very proud of your work.

Tania Bruckner
MRC Teacher