Born in Sydney, Australia, Richard’s artistic endeavour began as a black and white fine art photographer. Over a period spanning 45 years, Richard has produced numerous photographic exhibitions, working with various mediums, including Polaroid, 35mm to large-format film, Wet plate, and Digital formats, accompanied by fine art hand printing. His subject matter ranges from simplistic ‘zenlike’ landscapes, dreamy gardenscapes, to intimate portraiture work. All his (10″ x 10″) prints are delicately processed on Japanese Ragmount paper.

Richard won the prestigious Olive Cotton Award for his portrait of ‘Savitri’, a blind albino girl in India. For the same portrait, Richard recently won Ist prize in the 2024 International Monochrome Awards. In addition, Richard has won numerous international honorable mention awards for his landscape photographs.

For Richard, photography is like ‘finding and collecting jewels’. He invents projects and themes that allow him to explore ideas and moments freely.

Richard diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, both shape his perception of the world. At times chaotic, at times melancholic, his photographs in particular, seem to convey a magical sense of calm.

“Photographs by Richard OʼFarrell shows a free flow of thoughts from a man who feels his emotions deeply and is able to be totally present in each moment. Most of this recent work was done in India and Sri Lanka, where Richard lived solely on water for twelve days as the result of a food-induced illness. His senses were highly tuned, and it shows. As Richard says – “My state of mind at the time may have been at either pole – or in between – and yet all of these works have an underlying sense of calm and serenity … My use of photography allows me a wonderful outlet to ʻwriteʼ the tumultuous thoughts in my bipolar mind.”

(Point Light Gallery) Gordon Undy

The French master photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson declared that his pictures showed the line between his inner life and external world. Richard O’Farrell takes this idea a step further. He lives with Bipolar disorder and his pictures unashamedly confront his internal world, documenting symbols that echo elation and distress. He produces images that range from the mundane to the ironic and sublime.

(Sydney Morning Herald) Robert McFarlane 

Since 2012 Richard has also been a prolific Pastel Drawing/Illustrator with now a collection of over 3000 drawings, a ‘naïve’ style but with a strong intention for fun. 

Recently, he has ventured into film, exploring both scriptwriting and filmmaking. He has just completed directing a teaser for his film ‘One Moment,’, the first of a trilogy (One Moment, I Assassin and The Fortress) about the life of a highly trained assassin. You can view the teaser at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZRMYmQgUE

Contact Richard – richard.ofarrell@bigpond.com

Website – www.richardofarrell.com

Instagram (Drawings) – www.instagram.com/richard.ofarrell

Instagram (Photos) – www.instagram.com/richard.ofarrell.photos