Camels, cockerels and governors: The photographs of EL Mitchell, an illustrated talk by Dr Joanna Sassoon
For nearly 100 years EL Mitchell’s emblematic photographs of several Australian states have shaped how Australia was seen internationally. Many will recognize Mitchell’s images from having seen them published in Australian school textbooks, government publications, postcards, lantern-slides, international pictorial encyclopedia and museum exhibitions. But who was Mitchell, why did he succeed above his competitors, and how did his archive survive?
In this illustrated talk, Joanna will bring together three biographies – of the photographer, his photographs, and his archive. In doing so, Joanna will discuss this innovative approach to thinking with photographs and open a conversation about the ways institutions document and digitise photographs and how this shapes the way they can be used.
Dr Joanna Sassoon is a well-known, and internationally respected historian and archivist. She has managed a number of formats and archival collections in cultural institutions in Western Australia and Canberra and worked in social policy research in the State and Commonwealth public service. She has taught at several universities. She has written widely on Australian, environmental, oral and photographic history and has recently published a book called Agents of Empire: How E.L. Mitchell’s photographs shaped Australia. Based in Perth, Joanna is briefly visiting Adelaide.
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