Exhibition features rare 1980s celebrity portraits

Stephen Mackerras has a more colourful past than your average Redlands schoolteacher.

In the 1980s, he hosted a Saturday night request show on radio station 4ZZZ and would interview visiting musicians and other celebrities, often taking photographs when he did so.

The photos, taken on his Minolta SLR, were never published. Apart from recent outings on Mackerras’ social media accounts, they sat in a box for the past few decades.

“I showed them to some friends recently, particularly ones of Michael Hutchence, because he’s a legend, and they were very impressed, so I decided to have an exhibition.”

Stephen Skyflowers: Photography and Cosmic Art brings together Mackerras’ celebrity portraits, performance snaps, and boldly colourful paintings.

Mackerras interviewed Bono in 1984 on U2’s first tour of Australia when they played Festival Hall.

“At that time, they were an underground band and only ZZZ was interested in them, so it was very easy to meet him and to interview him,” Mackerras said.

Johnny Rotten’s post-Sex Pistols band PiL also visited Brisbane for the first time in the ’80s, and Mackerras got an evocative performance portrait.

His attempt at an impromptu interview ended badly, however.

“I walked into the dressing room after they’d finished playing, and they all got really upset and threw me out,” he said.

“I guess it was just the confidence of youth.”

In May 1985, prime minister Bob Hawke gave the T.J. Ryan Memorial Lecture at Mayne Hall at the University of Queensland while protesters gathered outside.

Mackerras got on stage behind the PM and took a photo of him addressing the crowd.

“No one stopped me. I actually followed him backstage. I just thought this is what you do with public figures, and he was friendly, but his minders asked me to leave.”

Mackerras grew up in Capalaba and was 14 when he started his first band, Tangled Shoelaces, with his siblings and some schoolmates.

They signed to indie record label Hot Records and were set to support Kate Ceberano’s band, I’m Talking, in Sydney until the promoters discovered they were all underage.

Tangled Shoelaces would later become Wondrous Fair, and Mackerras now plays in a combo called Skyflowers.

Pivoting to the film industry, he worked in the art department of the 1986 Melbourne junkie film Dogs in Space and befriended its star, INXS singer Michael Hutchence.

“I got to know him quite well, to the point where when he came to Brisbane, he gave me free tickets to the INXS concert,” Mackerras said.

“He was a very flawed character.”

The exhibition includes Mackerras’ portraits of Billy Bragg, Steve Kilbey, Tom Kenneally, David Attenborough and the Dalai Lama.

And as for Bono? He signed Mackerras’ copy of the band’s Pride (In the Name of Love) single at the Parkroyal and excused himself to go for a walk.

“He turned to me and said, ‘for at least 20 minutes a day, I don’t wanna be reminded that I’m famous’. That was his way of telling me to go away.”

Stephen Skyflowers: Photography and Cosmic Art runs daily from June 1-14 at Kaye West Studios, Camp Hill, with an opening event on Saturday, June 6, from 4-6pm.

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