Bundoora Homestead
September 22 – November 11 2018

The Family Mantle presents a series of photographic responses to notions of the family. Through the exploration of memory, archive, and photography, the artworks sift through the cultural and social constructs of familial relations and the role of the individual within them.

Featuring new works by Sofi Basseghi, Katayoun Javan, Janelle Low, Morganna Magee, Andy Mullens, Talia Smith and Pia Johnson.

Curated by Pia Johnson.

The Family Mantle
2018
Photo Paper
Dimensions Variable

Janelle Low was the first in her family to be born outside of Asia, never quite feeling properly Asian or properly Australian. Utilising photography as her primary medium, Janelle’s practice explores the internal and external conflicts that arise from growing up in multicultural Australia and navigating its shifting and evolving cultural landscape. Her work looks into the sense of displacement and ‘otherness’ felt between both her heritage and cultural upbringing, questioning notions of identity and acceptance.

In her work The Family Mantle Janelle disrupts the expected family narrative by presenting viewers with a chaotic, fragmented mass of memories, people and places torn from her family albums. Linking her installation to thought around migration and diaspora, there is a disconnect, as precious family moments and important markers of cultural identity are broken apart and decontextualised. There is a lingering sense of loss that permeates the work, prompting the question of whether the pieces can ever be brought back together and made whole again.