Passage: The Art of Atong Atem | Author: Atong Atem

Passage: The Art of Atong Atem is the first major monograph on acclaimed South Sudanese-Australian artist Atong Atem. A vivid exploration of migration, memory and the making of identity, it traces her journey from South Sudan to Australia's east coast, revealing how family, storytelling and image-making shape her richly staged portraits.

Working across photography, video and textiles, Atem reimagines the intimacy of portraiture. Her signature framing devices - small portals hovering over her subjects' faces - invite us to look again, through a lens that is at once surreal and deeply personal. Drawing on the legacies of such African studio photographers as Malick Sidibé, Philip Kwame Apagya and Seydou Keïta, she constructs lush tableaux that probe diaspora, postcolonial identity and the meaning of home.

Lavishly illustrated and featuring new essays by leading international voices, Passage is an essential volume on one of the most compelling artists of her generation.

About the artist:
Atong Atem is an Ethiopian born, South Sudanese artist and writer living in Naarm/Melbourne. Atem's work explores the inherent intimacy of portraiture and photography as well as the role photographers take as story tellers, interrogating photography as a framework for looking at the world and positioning people in it. She works primarily with photography, video and textiles to explore migrant narratives and postcolonial practices in the African diaspora, the relationship between public and private spaces and the exploration of home and identity through portraiture.

Details:
Hardcover
30.8 x 24cm
256 pages