winner Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award 2003
Gael Newton “Art and documentary: photographic biculturalism?” from Photogenic: Essays/Photography/CCP 2000-2004, edited by Daniel Palmer, CCP, Melbourne, 2005, p.65-70.
Gabriella Coslovich “The blurred vision of truth” The Age, 20 June 2003, A3-Review, p.12.
Artist's Statement
Ever since I was a kid I have been recording the world around me with a camera– not in any systematic way, but as the need and spare cash dictated– film and processing were expensive in those days. For the first few years I used my Dad’s Voigtländer 35 mm viewfinder camera.
In 2002 I begun to go through my old negatives and rediscovering these amateur photographs afresh.
“Arcadia del Sud” is a digital reworking of a series of snap shots I took in the mid to late 1960s, which I particularly like because they show my parents literally basking in their new-found economic freedom as “New Australians” in the land I have called Arcadia del Sud– Arcadia of the south.
These images show my Mum and Dad in their recently purchased brick veneer home in the Victorian Housing Commission estate of West Heidelberg.
They are proud of their garden, chooks and of the “new” second-hand Austin Freeway in the drive. All this they achieved a mere four years after arriving in Australia in 1961.
Arcadia del Sud, with its visible economic trappings is, on the surface, a picture of suburban simplicity, innocence and bliss– and of exemplary migrant achievement. But to my mind, it was and will always be a lonely and culturally isolated and deprived place for my parents to inhabit. Leading to severe depression for my mother and cultural displacement for both Mum and Dad. This is the sacrifice most first generation migrants make for their kids. This work is dedicated to the memory of Michele and Chiara Cozzolino.
MC, June 2003
NB: Arcadia 8 and 9 are from the series but were not submitted to the Leica/CCP Award as there was a limit of seven images per series.
Aborigines, Advertising, Aeroplane Jelly, All Australian, All Australian Graffiti, Ampol, ANZ Bank, Arnotts Biscuits, Arnotts Famous Biscuits, Aspro, Aussie, Aussie language, Australian Advertising, Australian Commercial Art, Australian Commercial Artists, Australian Graphic Design, Australian History, Australian icons, Australian identity, Australian language, Australian logos, Australian Made, Australian Map, Australian Nationalism, Australian packaging, Australian Trade marks, Australian erford, Gazeka, Geoff Cook, Geoffrey Blainey, Golden Fleece, Graphic Design, Griffiths Tea, Guest?s Teddy Bears, Gum Tree, History, Hutton?s, Huttons, Icon, Intellectual Property, IP, ISBN 0-646-40309-5, Italian migrants, Jaffas, Kangaroo, Kinkara, Kiwi Boot Polish, Koala, Kookaburra, Kool Mints, Laxettes, Leggo?s, Life. Be in it., Logo, Logos, Macrobertson, Made in Australia, Magpie, Magpie Cigarettes, Map of Australia, Marmite, Matchbox labels, Migrants, Mimmo, Mimmo Cozzolino, Mine Tinkit They Fit, Minties, Mortein, Mulga Wood, Nationalism, Neptune, Niggerboys, Norco, Nugget, Orlando, Patents & Trade marks, Patents and Trade Marks, Pelaco, Penguin Books, Peters Ice Cream, Phillip Adams, Pie, Platypus, Possum, Prickly Pear, Puns, Qantas, Rabbit plague, Racism, Redhead, Redheads, Rosella, Rutherford, Sherrin, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Slang, Southern Cross, Steam Rollers, Stencil Roller Flour, Stockman, Swagman, Swallow & Ariell, Symbols of Australia, TAA, Tarax, Tarzan?s Grip, Teddy Bears, Throaties, Tom Piper, Trade Mark History, Trade mark law, Trade marks, Trade Marks of Australia, Trademark History, Trademarks, Trademarks of Australia, Tucker Box, Vegemite, Velvet Soap, Vincents, Waratah, Wattle Cigarettes, White Australia Policy, Wombat, XXXX Beer, Zig and ZagTrademarks, Australiana, Ballarat Bertie, Beer Labels, Bex, Billy Tea, Boomerang, Bosisto?s, Brands, Bushells Tea, Carlton Ale, Chesty Bond, CIS Educational, Colonies, Commercial Art History, Commonwealth Bank, Cooee, Coo-ee, COR, Corporate Design, Corporate History, Corporate Identity, Corporate Image, Cozzolino, Cozzolino Ellett, CUB, Defender, Design Education, Design History, Digger, Dingo, Dinkum, Don?t Argue, Drover, Early Kooka, Eta, Fair Dinkum, Fantales, Federation, Flour Sacks, Freddo Frogs, Fysh, Fysh Ruth
