Patrick Pound challenges notions of singular authorship by creating works using found material from his personal archives, which have been amassed from years of obsessive and meticulous searching. His collections of found photographs and everyday objects (which the artist refers to as ‘things’) are indexed in groups according to specific characteristics, each containing their own highly subjective logic. As if the world is a puzzle to be solved, Pound forms complex arrangements and installations of images and objects from his archive, placing disparate images and objects into relation in order to create new relationships. Through this process, everyday banal and disconnected moments are elevated to become humorous, poetic and insightful reflections.

In 2017, Pound had a major survey exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, titled Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition. Pound has held over fifty solo exhibitions and been included in over eighty curated exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, England, Korea, Italy, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the UK and USA. In 2019 Pound was shortlisted to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale. Patrick Pound: Photography and Air, saw Pound rethink the collection of the Museo Lazaro Galdiano, in Madrid, alongside his collected objects and photos under the constraint of ‘Air’ for curator Susan Bright’s Déjà vu, Photo Espana, 2019.  In 2020 Pound’s collection-based works were installed in a vast matrix hang at the Kunsthalle Mannheim in David Campany’s German photo biennale. In 2022 Pound’s installation of collections featured in David Campany’s A Trillion Sunsets at the ICP, New York.

Pound's work with photography as a collecting device has been included in the five key surveys of Australian Photography: Shadow catchers, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2020, curated by Isobel Parker Philip; Defining Place/Space: Contemporary Photography from Australia, 2019, The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, curated by Deborah Klochko; The Art of the Photograph, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2013, curated by Judy Annear; Episodes, Dong Gang Photography Museum, Korea, 2014, curated by Natalie King and Yong Mi Park; Perfect for Every Occasion: Australian Photography Today, Heide Museum of Art, 2007, curated by Zara Stanhope.

Patrick Pound

The Great Photo Exhibition

Patrick Pound

The Big Sleep