Mine Konakci’s fascination with Australia’s convict past started when she was commissioned to photograph Anna, a convict descendant high-school student for a heritage publication. When she started researching the convict period, she was amazed to discover that most of the convicts transported to Australia were convicted of petty theft, the majority of which were considered to be very minor crimes by today’s standards.
When she embarked her master’s degree in documentary photography at The University of Sydney, documenting direct descendants of convict settlers for her master’s project was the obvious choice. This choice also related to her long-term fascination with archaeology, and her belief of unique links artefacts can provide to our past.
‘As a photographer, what interested me was the impact that the theft of objects—most of a relatively small value—could have on the lives of those involved’ she says. As a result, the photographs depict the descendants with a representation of the item that their ancestors had stolen; with the items representing a link between the ancestor and descendant.
For this project, she retained a persistent visual aesthetic by documenting the subjects in a democratic and uniform way. Her visual style is defined by her attraction to colour and graphic compositions drawing inspiration from graphic design.
One of her images of this project was selected as a finalist for both National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012, and Moran Photographic Prize 2012. She held group exhibitions at the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Sydney College of Arts and Australian Centre of Photography.
Her first solo exhibition is at the Museum of Sydney in 2013.
The artist lives and works in Sydney.
When she embarked her master’s degree in documentary photography at The University of Sydney, documenting direct descendants of convict settlers for her master’s project was the obvious choice. This choice also related to her long-term fascination with archaeology, and her belief of unique links artefacts can provide to our past.
‘As a photographer, what interested me was the impact that the theft of objects—most of a relatively small value—could have on the lives of those involved’ she says. As a result, the photographs depict the descendants with a representation of the item that their ancestors had stolen; with the items representing a link between the ancestor and descendant.
For this project, she retained a persistent visual aesthetic by documenting the subjects in a democratic and uniform way. Her visual style is defined by her attraction to colour and graphic compositions drawing inspiration from graphic design.
One of her images of this project was selected as a finalist for both National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012, and Moran Photographic Prize 2012. She held group exhibitions at the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Sydney College of Arts and Australian Centre of Photography.
Her first solo exhibition is at the Museum of Sydney in 2013.
The artist lives and works in Sydney.
