Eye contact: photographing Indigenous Australians.
Eye contact: photographing Indigenous AustraliansJane Lydon
Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2005, xxvi+303pp, ISBN 0822335727
I begin this review with an admission. Not versed in the arcane language of postmodernist theory or any of its various offshoots, I found large slabs of this book beyond my powers of comprehension. Take the following: 'In [Charles] Walter's interest in the Aboriginal people of Victoria expressed through a visual language we see the circulation of mimesis and alterity as white fascination with Aboriginal mimicry is itself expressed mimetically when subject reaches out to embrace object' (p.118). There is more of this sort of stuff peppered throughout the book. Much more. This is unfortunate. The book is obviously aimed at a select band of fellow travellers, but beneath the layers of jargon Jane Lydon reveals glimpses of a fascinating story.
Coranderrk, an Aboriginal station near Melbourne which was established in 1863, is the focus of Lydon's attentions. More correctly, it is the way in which the residents--made up of various groups forming the Kulin nations--were portrayed through the medium of photography, and how at different stages they influenced and indeed used the images for their own political ends. Throughout the book Lydon goes to some length in questioning the common perception of Aboriginal peoples in the nineteenth century as being helpless subjects of photographers who exploited them either for academic or commercial ends. Coranderrk provides fertile ground for Lydon's ruminations. As she points out, it was visited regularly by local and international photographers throughout the 60 years of its existence, and it was through this medium that Western society formed an understanding of Aboriginal Australians. Her central argument is that the resultant images 'also reflect indigenous objectives and values, and configure an intimate form of cross-cultural communication' (p.xiv).
Lydon cites the collaborative nature of the work undertaken by the photographer Charles Walter, the Kulin people and the station's Superintendent John Green. She posits an interesting hypothesis regarding the staging of the famous photograph, The Yarra Tribe starting for the Acheron. Briefly, the Aboriginal subjects were not only subjects of the picture, but also had a key say in its composition: 'the conception and execution reflects an Aboriginal perspective' (p.60). Further, 'the form of this image derives directly from Kulin practice' (p.64). The difficulty I have with this, as with many photographic 'readings' proffered by Lydon throughout the book, is that, as she herself admits, there is no documentary evidence to support such claims. In the absence of diaries or field notes, such arguments belong more in the realm of speculation, something no amount of opaque theorising can disguise. But perhaps that is the essence of 'photographic theory'. I could likewise argue that the final image is a product of the photographer's eye for composition and the limitations of the technology of the day.
Nevertheless, Walter does indeed come across as an enlightened and sympathetic figure. In an attempt to exercise some control over the reproduction of a series of commissioned photographs for the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866, he states: 'I shall be most happy to furnish duplicates of the whole collection at a moderate charge, but I do not wish my black friends to be sold in every shop at the rate of 6d. each' (p.75).
Perhaps more representative as products of their time, are photographers like Desire Charnay, Nicholas Caire, Redmond Barry, Enrico Hilyer Giglioli and Frederick Kruger, all of whom took photographs at Coranderrk on commission or with a particular market in mind. Lydon tells of Charnay's attempts at anthropometric portraiture being thwarted by the Coranderrk residents who insisted on inflating their sitting fees to the point where he gave up in exasperation. A good story indeed; however, it loses much of its impact by page 172 where it makes its third appearance in the book.
Lydon discusses Kruger's work in some detail and there are some nice reproductions including one of his better known images, Aboriginal cricketers at Coranderrk, c1877 (p.125). In analysing this image within a post-colonial theoretical framework, Lydon states: 'as mimicry it fixes the colonial subject, both colonized and colonizer as a "partial" presence', and then positioning the photograph within the same context as an account of a cricket match by visiting English naturalist Henry Mosely: 'our [sic] reading of Kruger's image of Coranderrk's cricketers moves from sameness to difference--from cricket the quintessentially English pastime, to the black skin of the players against their whites, revealing white fascination with the Aboriginal mimicry of a white man's game' (pp.125-6). Yet she relates the story of the same naturalist bemoaning the fact that he couldn't find any men to assist him in his search for platypus as they were too engrossed in their cricket game. There appears to be more than 'mimicry' at work here. To use a sporting cliche cricket was the winner on the day.
I do not share Lydon's unease with this image or indeed most of Kruger's station scenes. He was a superb technician and while some of his images were undoubtedly used for propaganda purposes by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines, I concur with Brenda Croft who cites Kruger as the photographer who came 'closest to honestly depicting a rapidly changing lifestyle and Aboriginal peoples' adaptation to those changes' (p.124).
Lydon's treatment of Nicholas Caire's work is less problematic. By the time Caire was commissioned to photograph Coranderrk by the Japanese Colonial Department in 1904, the prevailing view was that of 'the vanishing culture' or 'dying race'. Unlike his earlier portraits at Lake Tyers, Caire's Coranderrk images are notable for their staginess and ersatz representations of traditional culture. As Lydon notes, the images had more to do with a popular interpretation of Aboriginal culture than a scientific one (p.195), and his stereotypical portrayals were indeed popular. His postcards of mock-up ceremonies were a nice little earner--no qualms about the 6d there.
In reference to these same questionable images, Lydon nevertheless indulges in some patchouli-scented curator-speak that she (and her editor) should have resisted (p.202):
the postcard simultaneously drew the viewer toward and distanced her or him from what is depicted. This power to appropriate is effected through the image's miniaturization, realism and personalization, creating an intimate relationship with the body--the hands that grasp, angle, hold closer or away, then pocket this slim portable object; their size allows them to be enveloped by the viewers body, transforming exterior into interior.
I wouldn't go that far, but Caire's images do convey something of the sadness and sense of loss as the station's population had dwindled and Coranderrk became little more than a theme park for visitors interested in the 'Aboriginal experience' replete with boomerang throwing and corroboree performances.
The book closes on a positive note, both in the coverage given to the eventual hand-back of the site, and in the many and varied applications--from the political to the personal--that the descendants of the Kulin have found for these historical photographs. Most importantly, Lydon forgoes much of the tortured theorising and gives voice to the descendants themselves. Thus the reader gains insight through the very real and emotional reactions triggered by these images.
Lydon ends by discussing some of the more contemporary approaches to photographing Indigenous Australians, and lauds collaborative ventures such as the AIATSIS After 200 years project where community members worked closely with professional photographers in documenting the subjects important to them. Further, they had a controlling influence not only in how the subjects were portrayed but also in the ongoing reproduction of those images. It should be noted that this project did not end with the publication of the book in 1988, but is maintained through community visits undertaken by staff from the AIATSIS Audiovisual Archive. At a recent visit to Cherbourg, community members were not only provided with copies of the wonderful photographs taken by Robert McFarlane and Kathy Fisher, but were given training in the creation and ongoing preservation of audiovisual materials.
The final chapter could well serve as an introduction to a more fruitful line of investigation for Lydon to pursue. While she mentions the anthropology of WEH Stanner, she surprisingly makes no mention of the extensive photographic recordings he undertook during his work with the Murrinhpatha and Malak Malak people which he commenced in 1932. As such, the title of the book is somewhat misleading. The final chapter notwithstanding, the content is not so much about the visual representation of Indigenous Australians through the medium of photography, but rather a postmodernist reading of a particular set of photographs at a particular time and place.
Jane Lydon has researched her subject thoroughly. However, this book does not do justice to that research. Certainly the text would have benefited from a stronger editorial hand, and coated art stock should have been used for the reproductions (having ink from the image transferred to the adjoining page is not a good look). For those readers unfamiliar with the theories of Foucault and his latter-day disciples I suggest you procure a guide that will not only allow you to deconstruct the text but, more importantly, reconstruct it in some kind of intelligible form.
Reviewed by David Jeffery, AIATSIS <David.Jeffery@aiatsis.gov.au>
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| Author: | Jeffery, David |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Australian Aboriginal Studies |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Sep 22, 2006 |
| Words: | 1525 |
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