Picturing the old people 2006-07

From 2000 to 2005, Genevieve Grieves worked for the Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne, recording Indigenous oral histories and reconnecting members of the Stolen Generations to family and culture. Her work at the Trust and, in particular, managing the Koorie Heritage Archive brought her into regular contact with the State Library of Victoria’s collection of nineteenth-century colonial photographs. The research she did with this archive formed the basis of Picturing the old people. In re-creating historical photographs, community members were able to interact with their history and investigate what might have happened during these photography sessions with their old people.

This series of animated sepia-toned portraits – of desire, warriors, mourning, family and lost children – are a haunting exploration of the interactions between photographer and sitters, reflecting colonial expectations of Aboriginal people and their lifestyles, and challenging the integrity and Indigenous agency of the original scenarios.