Circle of Family: Ngarrindjeri Photography in the 20th century

From the moment small consumer cameras became available in Australia in the early twentieth century, Ngarrindjeri people embraced photography as a means to record their history, and represent their families, aesthetic traditions, and world views against the perilous times of attempted assimilation by the state, including the rampant forced removal of Aboriginal children that came to be known as the Stolen Generations. For the first time such a large body of photographs had been shared outside a deeply protective family context. Previously, the photographs were preserved in albums, picture frames, biscuit tins, and timeworn suitcases across the various locales where Ngarrindjeri live, some making their way onto tablets and mobile devices. Many had survived the ravages of fires and floods and the enforced movements by governments over three-quarters of a century. This collection of digitised rare historical photographs, taken by Ngarrindjeri photographers and retained in Ngarrindjeri families, operates both as a rich counter archive to colonial representations and settler memory, and as esteemed cultural objects capable of drawing the weight of the ancestral past into the present moment, tangibly enlivening cultural and spiritual connections generationally today. This book was produced to accompany the exhibition.