Jacob Nemirovsky – S3474989

Project Proposal

What it is that you are planning to investigate this semester This semester I plan to explore what is our Australian culture and our national identity, with a focus on belonging and identity through domestic landscapes and related spaces. I intend to use my grandparents’ home as an initial investigation into how identity can be deeply rooted in the specifics of one’s inhabited landscape, by looking for key characteristics that may identify their Russian/Jewish heritage. Focusing outwards to the Russian/Jewish community, I will also explore my grandparents surrounding suburbs/spaces as well as related religious spaces. I’ll seek to include family archives as another means to show the social identity and cultural heritage of my family, while also considering it as a form of memory and documentation of my families past and present. The combination of new and old images is intend to create a conversation between the two in order to link them together cohesively, both visually and conceptually. The final product will be designed in a way that intends the audience to conceptually recreate their own version of the series, so as to reinforce the idea that the Australian culture and identity is in question. Archives will also be used as a means to archive the domestic landscape and spaces of previous generation, for current and future generations. Using archives is an important method to remember what once was, but also to not forget. How this relates to ‘the rights, responsibilities, implications and contradictions of citizenship’

When my family emigrated to Australia in the late 70’s, they were consider the “other” or not Australian. At that time, they may not of been seen to have the same rights of someone who was born here, though this could easily be challenged when compared to Indigenous Australians. The mode of participatory and observational documentation will be used to demonstrate how the idea of what the national identity was has now changed and our national identity is in question, giving all those who live in Australia equal rights and responsibilities, regardless of their background. While Australia can feel both homely and unhomely at the same time, I intend to put forward the complexity of our ever changing identity and not make the assumption that because we all live here, we understand what our national identity and culture is. Connections to the theoretical concepts we have looked at so far. As Ariella Azoulays’ Civil Imagination sets forth that the photograph is merely one event in a sequence that constitutes photography and which always involves an actual or potential spectator in the relationship between the photographer and the individual portrayed. Similarly, I see that

the exploration of my families heritage is a commentary and a broad stance on the civic rights of those who migrated here, who may of once felt they were not Australian. The participation between my grandparents and other individuals in the community is another form of the spectator in this circumstance. Ariella Azoulay mentions, “The camera generates events other than the photographs anticipated as coming into being through its mediation, and the latter are not necessarily subject to full control of the agent who holds the camera” (Azoulay 2012). My investigation is further supported through its focus on these domestic landscapes and archives that are both about a specific cultural group, as well as much more than what is within the frame – it intends to promote a discussion or question regarding Australian culture and identity, a discussion that is not in full control of the photographer or the photographs. Method The method that I will employ will be a combination of participatory and observational documentation, as I intend to enter spaces and observe what is in someone else’s space, while also collaborating with my grandparents and others in the Russian/Jewish community. my practice will consider the theoretical frameworks of praxis and discussion as a means of investigation and refinement into my exploration of Australian culture and national identity through my heritage. Schedule Week 5: Photograph grandparents space, as well as examining family archive images. Week 6: Photograph surrounding space and email/contact community spaces. Possibly go back and photograph grandparents space/look for more items related to Russian/Jewish culture. Make a smaller selection of family archive images to see how they will fit in the body of work. Week 7: Photograph community spaces and speak with individuals in these spaces. Organise potential to photograph their space. Week 8: Photograph other individuals space and examine their family archives. Week 9: Photograph more spaces in the surrounding suburbs. Week 10: Review and refine ideas, revisit spaces from other individuals in the community or community spaces. Week 11: Review and refine ideas, revisit spaces from other individuals in the community or community spaces. Go back again and photography grandparents space. Week 12: Review and collate images into a cohesive series/body of work. Photograph any last images that may be needed. Week 13: Prepare final body of work, do a test print prior to final submission. Week 14: Print final body of work and submit.

Relevant Examples by Others - Larry Sultan, Pictures from Home. BelcoPride–LeeGrantRelevantExamplesbyOthers–LeeGrant,BelcoPride.

Relevant Examples by Others – Lee Grant, Belco Pride.

Relevant Examples by Others- Georgia Metaxas, Greek Grandparents.

Relevant Examples by Others - Simryn Gill, Inland & Dalam.

Relevant Examples by Others- Alec Soth – I know how furiously your heart is beating.

Relevant Work by Others - Amy Stein, Tall Poppy Syndrome.

Preliminary Works (apologies about the colours, I’m in the process of sorting the scans)

Preliminary Works - Family Archive Images

References Azoulay, A 2012, Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography, 1St Edition, Verso Books, London, United Kingdom. Stein, A 2012, Tall Poppy Syndrome, New South Wales, Australia. Soth, A 2019, I Know how Furiously your Heart is Beating, Minneapolis, United States of America. Gill, S 2009, Inland, New South Wales, Australia. Gill, S 2001, Dalam, Malaysia. Metaxas, G 2005, Greek Grandparents, Melbourne, Australia. Grant, L 2011, Belco Pride, Belconnen, Australia. Sultan, L 1992, Pictures from Home, California, United States of America.