Memories and Reveries: photography, memory and diaspora

Rodrigo  Hill; Marcos Mortensen Steagall

doi:10.24135/link2022.v4i1.200

Rodrigo Hill University of Waikato
Marcos Mortensen Steagall (Translator) Auckland University of Technology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24135/link2022.v4i1.200

Keywords: Photography, nostalgia, diaspora, creative practice, research

Abstract

This presentation aims to explore the intersection of photography with notions of memory and diaspora as catalysers for the development of a lens-based model of representation connected to affect, cultural perception and nostalgia. I will discuss and present my recent creative practice research project titled Desacoplado: Memórias e Devaneios (Displacement: Memories and Reveries) exhibited at the Auckland Museum as part of Toró: é tudo tanto group exhibition from March to October 2023. The project compiles personal archival imagery produced throughout the last twenty years, marking temporal points that preceded or at times ran in parallel with migration experiences to and in Aotearoa. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s notions on diaspora and Svetlana Boym’s take on nostalgia I constructed a theoretical model to support and inform my creative practice developments. Hall asserted that diaspora is surrounded by a sense of loss and connection while Boym discusses nostalgia as a feeling of loss and displacement. These distinctive concepts and views were useful to understand my own condition as an immigrant in Aotearoa, displaced from my home environment and yet part of an ongoing process of becoming. To address these concepts I started a process of reviewing my photographic archive, looking for imagery that could fit a family album of some kind, ranging from snap-shots, family photographs and archival imagery re-worked through montage, cropping, printing and picture framing strategies. This process covered multiple iterative stages and ways of selecting, compiling, curating and presenting the photographs. These methodological stages were useful to shape a model to address the ways notions of nostalgia and diaspora can be discussed and represented through lens-based and curatorial approaches, positioning photography at core as both practice and research methodology. This led to the compilation of 18 photographs, covering various personal moments and responses to diasporic experiences both in Aotearoa and my home country Brasil. My presentation at the 2023 LINK conference will aim to unpack some of the creative decisions, ideas and processes connected to Desacoplado: Memórias e Devaneios, highlighting the value of photography and creative practice as means to address complex research concepts.

Author Biographies

Rodrigo Hill, University of Waikato

Rodrigo is an established exhibiting artist both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally specialised in gallery installations and publications. Rodrigo’s creative interests are rooted at the intersection of lens-based and documentary approaches in which photography plays the role of representing layered ‘place-imaginaries’. Rodrigo holds a PhD in practice-led research and is a lecturer at the University of Waikato School of Arts Screen and Media. Rodrigo’s research explores the multiple possibilities that surround photographic practices and how photography is used as a way to perceive and make place.

Marcos Mortensen Steagall, Auckland University of Technology

Marcos Mortensen Steagall is an Associate Professor in the Communication Design department at the Auckland University of Technology - AUT since 2016. He is the Communication Design Postgraduate Strand Leader and Programme Leader for Communication Design and Interaction Design for Year 3. He holds a Master's (2000) and PhD (2006) in Communication & Semiotics acquired from The Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a PhD in Art & Design from Auckland University of Technology in 2019. Research interest focus on Practice-oriented research in Design through a Global South perspective.