dreams of a modern family (2022-23)

“One may remember or forget these messages but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory or expectation.”

Jo Spence and John Berger both stated how an awareness of one’s personal bindings to the glamorous “publicity image” needs to be developed before a liberation from their constraints can occur.

Our family’s embrace of modernity began long before our migration to Australia. An ideological choice made by my grandfather in response to historical determinants cemented our cultural trajectory in favour of Western colonial values and role models. The acceptance that was offered by Australia due to my father’s vocational status only reinforced his convictions in its validity as an adopted self-identity and direction for social integration.