Posted by michael on July 4th, 2007
Seng is a Perth-based documentary and art photographer, working predominantly with digital photography and digital media. He is a coordinator of the ‘Photographers in Perth’ online community and has organised and participated in a number of local and national exhibitions, including ‘From Pixel to Print’ at the Perth Centre for Photography, the upcoming ‘Dare to Bare’ at the KURB Gallery, and the Red Lens Photography Award in NSW.
Seng is currently undertaking a photography project entitled ‘Sons of Beaches’, which sees him documenting the exploits and experiences of WA surf lifesavers over the surf life-saving season in 2006-2007. ‘Sons of Beaches’ focuses on re-representing an image that is iconic Australian - the photographs present different ways of viewing, presenting and thinking about surf-lifesaving as a tradition or institution that is traditionally masculine, even militaristic.
Son of a Beach
“Australians invest heavily in our icons - we invest in it qualities that we deem valuable, admirable: courage, mateship, strength, endurance, all qualities which are associated with the surf-lifesaver. It is also a very male-dominated culture because of its roots and even though there is a fair proportion of female to male lifesavers today, the values and traditions to which surf-lifesaving clubs adhere to are still fairly masculine. This traditional view of surf-lifesaving has been promulgated through Australian and International media and while it makes for exciting viewing, I think that it repeats ideas, concepts and emotions that already exist in the Australian imagination.
“‘Sons of Beaches’ is about re-representing an image that is iconic Australian. The project is called ‘Sons of Beaches’ because I wanted to examine the way the icon constructs and presents certain ways of thinking about ‘masculinity’. What I want to do is to look for different ways of viewing, presenting and, thus, thinking about surf-lifesaving as a tradition or institution. Not necessarily challenging established beliefs about the icon but creating visuals that ask viewers to look at surf-lifesaver as something beyond the stereotype.
“Surf-lifesaving competitions can be a real spectacle for viewers. There is a great deal of action going on in these events. What I am most interested in, however, are the moments in-between that reveal the human face behind the drama that unfolds in these events. At the end of the day, we are talking about individuals who are devoting a large proportion of their lives to surf-lifesaving - people from diverse socio-economic background who have this dedication to the cause and competition as the common element binding them together. In ‘Sons of Beaches’, I want to catch the more human aspects of these events - aspects that might make people stop and stare, and wonder, even if for a moment, about what they are seeing. Sometimes, there is humour is the images; it is to humanise the icon - when you can laugh at or with someone, you’re acknowledging him or her as a peer, rather than as something which is objectified and distanced, which is what usually happens with icons.”
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