Of being and becoming

Abstract

My Master of Fine Arts work titled Of being and becoming will be exhibited at the Sydney College of the Arts Graduate Exhibition in December 2012. The series explores mimesis in the re-staging of intergenerational family photographs. My methodology of re-enactment unearths submerged genealogical histories and measures the cultural distance travelled by intergenerational bodies. The photographs examine how cultural and familial narratives contribute profoundly to our sense of individual and collective identification. Combined with fragmented voice dialogue the installation fosters a dynamic exchange of personal memories and historic experiences. The work will be installed in two small rooms, the first containing ten large photographic prints selected from the re-staged images. The second room will exhibit 40 small photographs juxtaposing the original images with my re-enactments. The work's audio component consisting of overlapping voice dialogues will be installed over both rooms. My Master of Fine Arts research paper investigates the concepts and issues explored in my practical work, in particular theories concerning identity and representation relating to photography and the visual vernacular. I also examine cultural analysis on contemporary ideas of race, hybridism and transculturation that are inherently informed by postcolonial and global momentums. Re-evaluating the image of the family and its accompanying social ideologies, my research explores the ways in which intergenerational memories and transcultural experiences potently inform our individual perspectives and cultural conceptions. Siting results from my visual practice and from interview data with my photographed subjects, my research concludes in articulating human experience as an intersection of historical fact and personal mythology. Located in between the real and the imagined, my research and practice explore the dynamic forces that transform our conception of contemporary identification.