Calling Home – Performative Portraiture Exhibition

Abstract

Research Background This research explores claims that photography's agency has increased exponentially by the associated feedback cycles of networked (online) audiences. It sits within the discourse of hyperimaging, understood as a form of expanded photography; it is an interactive visual link that goes beyond the still and moving image format. Hyperimaging is more about enabling a certain mutuality, less about the work and more about the act of making the work. Furthermore, the outcomes of hyperimaging may not ultimately be photographic at all but rather implicitly photographic (Cramerotti, 2015).

Research Contribution The Calling Home Portrait Exhibition manifests as both a live 4-minute multi-screen LED image installation and social media insertions. These artefacts evolved through a unique collaboration with performing artists, directors, producers, theatrical technicians and 64 participating members of an audience of 2000 – before, during and after a live performance – and they continue to evolve online. The work expands upon the temporal and spatial relationships that exist between the interactive act of making photographic portraiture and the digital technologies and processes that are usually associated with hyperimaging.

Research Significance The work was commissioned by Natalie Lidgerwood - Senior Programmer at HOTA (Home of the Arts). It was screened on HOTA’s Outdoor Stage during the finale of Calling Home on Sunday the 15th of December 2019. The imagery accompanied Spirit of Place performed by Yirmal, a Yolngu man from the community of Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem Land. The show was directed by Benjamin Knapton, with the musical direction by Gordon Hamilton, and backed by musical arrangements from William Barton, Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra and The Australian Voices. The live audience comprised of 2000 people of all ages, faiths and traditions, and the exhibition continues online through HOTA's social media channels.