Imaging Identity

Media, memory and portraiture in the digital age

Melinda Hinkson

• Publisher: ANU Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781760460419
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Imaging Identity presents potent reflections on the human condition through the prism of portraiture. Taking digital imaging technologies and the dynamic and precarious dimensions of contemporary identity as critical reference points, these essays consider why portraits continue to have such galvanising appeal and perform fundamental work across

Table of contents

• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Introduction: The time of the portrait is now
• PART I: The work of the imagination
• Rembrandt, or the portrait as encounter
• Pictures for our time and place: Reflections on painting in a digital age
• Diasporic looking: Portraiture, diaspora and subjectivity
• PART II: Interfaces
• The self-portrait and the film and video essay
• The mutable face
• BarkTV: Portrait of an innovator
• Index
• Figure 1.1: Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert (detail), Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1633, 130 x 103 cm.
• Figure 1.2: Self-portrait as the Apostle Paul, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1661, oil on canvas, 91 x 77 cm.
• Figure 2.1: Left: Boatmen moored on a lakeshore, Adam Pynacker, 1668; Right: Proposal for landscaped cosmos, Sam Leach, 2010.
• Figure 2.2: Untitled #2, from the series Yooralla at twenty past three, Micky Allan, 1978, watercolour and coloured pencil on silver gelatin print, 27.7 x 35.2 cm.
• Figure 2.3: Large interior 173 (Micky), Jude Rae, 2005, oil on linen, 180 x 120 cm, winner of the 2005 Portia Geach Memorial Award for portraiture.
• Figure 2.4: Drawing 101 (naked), Jude Rae, 2010, willow charcoal on Fabriano paper, 220 x 140 cm.
• Figure 2.5: Sorcery painting (autumn echidna), Vanessa Barbay, 2011, echidna and rabbit-skin glue on canvas, 84 x 80 cm.
• Figure 3.1: An ocean of bright clouds, an ocean of solemn clouds, Lindy Lee, 1995, photocopy and acrylic on board, 205 x 143 cm.
• Figure 3.2: Birth & death, Lindy Lee, 2003, Installation Artspace, Sydney, inkjet print and acrylic on Chinese accordion books, installation dimensions variable.
• Figure 3.3: Aaron, Gali Weiss, 2000, solvent transfer, charcoal, graphite, 76 x 56.5 cm.
• Figure 3.4: MotherDaughter (as self-portrait), Gali Weiss, 2008, watercolour, solvent transfer, charcoal, graphite, 75 x 75 cm each of 6 panels.
• Figure 3.5: FatherDaughter, Gali Weiss, 2008, ink and watercolour wash, solvent transfer, charcoal, graphite, 52.5 x 37 cm each of 14 panels.
• Figure 3.5a: FatherDaughter (detail), Gali Weiss, 2008, ink and watercolour wash, solvent transfer, charcoal, graphite, 52.5 x 37 cm each of 14 panels.
• Figure 3.6: MotherSon, Gali Weiss, 2008, solvent transfer, graphite, 37 x 30 cm each of 15 panels.
• Figure 3.7: MotherSon II, Gali Weiss, 2008, black & white and colour solvent transfer, 60 x 40.5 cm each of four panels.
• Figure 3.8: MotherSon III, Gali Weiss, 2008, black & white and colour solvent transfer, 60 x 40.5 cm each panel.
• Figure 4.1: Autumn song (still), John Conomos, 1998, SP Beta, 23 mins duration.
• Figure 4.2: The spiral of time (still), John Conomos, 2013, HD video, 5 minutes duration.
• Figure 5.1: Photographic montage depicting different facial expressions induced by electrical currents.
• Figures 5.2 and 5.3: The facial expression of fear being induced by electrical currents.
• Figure 5.4: Left: Horror and Agony; Figure 5.5: Right: Terror.
• Figure 5.6: Duchenne’s smile (still), two-channel video installation, Michele Barker and Anna Munster, 2009.
• Figure 6.1: Left: Portrait of Ugolino Martelli, Angelo Bronzino, 1536 or 1537, oil on wood, oil on poplar wood.
• Figure 6.2: Right: Djalkiri #1, David Bukulatjpi, Jennifer Deger and Marrawakamirr Marrawungu, 2009, video and acrylic on bark.
• Figure 6.3: Djalkiri #1, Macquarie University Art Gallery, December 2009.
• Figure 6.4: Djalkiri #1 (detail).
• Figure 6.5: Jennifer Deger and Bangana Wununungmurra in the BRACS radio studio, Gapuwiyak 1999.
• Figure 6.6: Family portrait #3, Christmas Birrimbirr (Christmas spirit), installation, Miyarrka Media, 2011.
• Figure 6.7: Christmas with Wawa (still), Jennifer Deger with Susan Marrawakamirr Marrawungu, 2007.
• Figure 6.8: The entrance to Bangana Wunungmurra’s funeral shade, 2001.
• Figure 6.9: Portrait of father and daughter, 2005.
• Figure 6.10: Studio portrait of Susan Marrawakamirr Marrawungu and Bangana Wunungmurra, 1997.
• Figure 6.11: Family portrait at grave, 2007.
• Figure 6.12: David Bukulatjpi painting Djalkiri #1, 2009.
• Figure 6.13: Portrait of Bangana Wunungmurra, date unknown.
• Figure 6.14: ONLY.FAMILY, Rowena Lay’pu Wunungmurra, 2010, phone‑made jpeg.
• Figure 6.15: Djalkiri #1 (close-up), during test projections, 2009.
• Figure 6.16: Jennifer Deger, Samantha Yawulwuy Wunungmurra, Antonnio Gurrururu Wanambi, Susan Marrawakamirr Marrawungu, Macquarie University Art Gallery 2009.