TY - JOUR
T1 - A singular photograph
T2 - Olive cotton's sea's awakening
AU - Ennis, Helen
PY - 2011/12
Y1 - 2011/12
N2 - In 1937 Australian photographer Olive Cotton photographed the sea from the headland at Newport Beach, producing Sea's awakening, one of the most sublime images of her career. This essay considers the photograph in depth as part of an ongoing search for developing alternative means of analysing and interpreting photographs. It is premised on the conviction that photographic history is limited as a means of illumination and uses an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from other fields including social history and biography. In addition, concerns with gender, materiality and narrative are explored. The aim of the essay is not to fix the meaning of Sea's awakening, rendering it static but to mobilise it.
AB - In 1937 Australian photographer Olive Cotton photographed the sea from the headland at Newport Beach, producing Sea's awakening, one of the most sublime images of her career. This essay considers the photograph in depth as part of an ongoing search for developing alternative means of analysing and interpreting photographs. It is premised on the conviction that photographic history is limited as a means of illumination and uses an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from other fields including social history and biography. In addition, concerns with gender, materiality and narrative are explored. The aim of the essay is not to fix the meaning of Sea's awakening, rendering it static but to mobilise it.
KW - Light
KW - Materiality
KW - Modernism
KW - Olive cotton
KW - Photographic history
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859231969&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14443058.2011.617382
DO - 10.1080/14443058.2011.617382
M3 - Article
SN - 1444-3058
VL - 35
SP - 449
EP - 459
JO - Journal of Australian Studies
JF - Journal of Australian Studies
IS - 4
ER -