Dust: Atong Atem
Ritual and Birth: Atong Atem
Atong Atem is an internationally acclaimed South Sudanese artist based in Melbourne (Naarm), who has conquered the world with her vibrant and intimate photography exploring the contemporary African diaspora. From the Tate Modern to the National Gallery of Victoria, Atem has captured the eye of curators, critics and collectors alike as an artist who creates beautifully crafted images that explore family, migration and her South Sudanese heritage.
DUST is a reflection on beliefs and rituals of Dinka culture. “The series draws inspiration from Dinka women, who act as mediums and custodians to the earth, and explores their relationship to the rupturing history of Christianity and colonialism,” explains Photo Ireland curator Catherine McKinley. Atem’s own experience of motherhood informs the series, exploring intersections between birth and death. Atem states, “there is something intense about performing and referencing end of life rituals with a full-term baby in your body…” Figures shrouded in cloth draw connections to Christian mythologies and the traditional iconography of western art, especially the Virgin Mary. The bright orange sand also prompts memories of migration, conjuring images of South Sudanese dirt roads, to the red earth of the Australian landscape.
Atong Atem’s photographs are seen at major institutions around Australia. Her evocative photographs have, and continue to be, an expression of the political power of self-portraiture as a South-Sudanese woman living on colonial land.
