There are plenty of fantastic photos of David Bowie out there — lightning bolt across the face, arena lights blazing, larger-than-life personas shifting by the decade.
But this March, Joondalup Festival is inviting Perth to see a very different side of a man with many of them.
For the first time in Australia, Christine de Grancy’s intimate photographic series A Day with David will be exhibited at Joondalup Contemporary Art Gallery, documenting a quiet and deeply human moment in the icon’s life.
The photographs were taken on September 8, 1994, when Bowie — alongside longtime collaborator Brian Eno, artist André Heller and de Grancy herself — visited the Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic near Vienna. The clinic was home to a celebrated community of Art Brut (outsider) artists, whose raw, boundary-pushing works would go on to influence Bowie’s own creative direction.
De Grancy had been invited specifically for her empathetic, unobtrusive approach. What she captured feels worlds away from stadium tours and spectacle. Bowie crouching to examine August Walla’s painted garden house. Bowie listening — intently — to artists tell their stories. Bowie sketching quietly in a notebook. Sharing coffee. Observing. Connecting.
As de Grancy later reflected, he behaved “not like a global icon, but like an ordinary man intent on listening.”
Image Credit: Ernesto Gelles
Arriving in the year that marks a decade since Bowie’s passing, the exhibition feels less like nostalgia and more like a reminder: of curiosity, of humility, of the way art can bridge vastly different worlds. His visit to Gugging coincided with a creative reconnection with Eno and would help shape the conceptual landscape of his 1995 album 1. Outside, an experimental record steeped in themes of art, identity and the outsider spirit.
The exhibition will transform the Joondalup Contemporary Art Gallery into an immersive experience, featuring 28 framed black-and-white photographs, additional large-format prints, a video installation, and even a full-scale recreation of August Walla’s painted room.
Joondalup Mayor Daniel Kingston says the City is proud to host the Australian debut:
“This exhibition has captivated Bowie fans and audiences around the world and the City is excited that its Australian debut will happen in Joondalup, where we value the bold and creative. 10 years since his death, David Bowie’s legacy still inspires people and I encourage residents and visitors to come to Joondalup to see this remarkable exhibition.”
A centrepiece of this year’s Joondalup Festival program, A Day with David will be presented free to the public — offering rare access to the complete series for the first time in Australia.
Find out more and check the full Joondalup Festival program at joondalupfestival.com.au.
Image Credit: Supplied/Joondalup Festival