Axel Poignant

(England, Australia, England 1906–1986)

Title

The swimmers, Milingimbi, Arnhem Land

Year

1952
printed 1983

Media category

Photograph

Materials used

gelatin silver photograph

Dimensions

43.2 x 32.8cm image; 50.5 x 40.4cm sheet

Signature & date

Signed l.r. sheet., pencil "Axel Poignant". Dated l.centre verso, pencil "...1952 /...1983

Credit

Purchased 1983

Accession number

161.1983

Location

Not on display

Further information

Axel Poignant, who migrated to Australia in 1926, felt he had been ‘re-born an Australian’ having witnessed the miraculous transformation of the desert when its transitory flowers and birdlife came to life after rain on the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia in 1942. There he developed an intense affinity with the landscape and Indigenous Australians whom he photographed. He said: ‘I was hooked … From this time I had a conscious commitment to the documentary in both still and movie photography.’1 Captivated by the land, the people and their cultures Poignant visited Nagalarramba and Milingimbi, Arnhem Land, in 1952 to record with dignity and humanity the traditional daily life of Aboriginal people which was under threat from the official policy of assimilation at the time.

Poignant’s image of children swimming at Milingimbi suggests they could spring to life in a series of moving frames as their exuberance almost leaps from the print itself. The composition of the children implies one movement as they run, jump and dive. Their arc-like shape mimics the partially submerged tree – both silhouetted against the vast water and sky. The joy of playing, swimming and splashing is a universal pastime for many children, and images such as ‘The swimmers, Milingimbi’ conveyed a humane understanding of Indigenous people to the wider Australian public. This concept was achieved when Poignant’s photo-story, ‘Piccaninny walkabout: a story of two Aboriginal children’, was published as a children’s book in 1957. Its popularity demanded further editions, with the book retitled ‘Bush walkabout’ by Poignant in 1972.

1. Gross J 1984, ‘Axel Poignant’, ‘The British Journal of Photography’, 84/26, 29 Jun

Bibliography (7)

'6 photographers with attitude' by Elizabeth Maloney, pg.35, Look Dec 2009-Jan 2010, Dec 2009-Jan 2010, 35 (illus.).

7079 (Editor), Photography: Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, 2007, 194, 200 (illus.).

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 205 (illus.).

Jorge Calado (Author), À Prova de Água Waterproof, Lisbon, 1998, (illus.). plate no. 145

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 61 (illus.).

Xavier Herbert (Author), Capricornia, Sydney, Unknown, cover (illus.).

Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Sydney, 1986. cat.no. 173

Exhibition history (5)

Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 26 Sep 1986–23 Nov 1986.

Four Photographers, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 02 Jun 1990–19 Aug 1990.

Fine and mostly sunny: photographs from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 28 Sep 1991–01 Dec 1991.

Waterproof - One Hundred Days Festival - Expo 98, Lisboa EXPO 98, 27 Feb 1998–31 May 1998.

"When I was young...": artists' impressions of childhood, Global Arts Link, 09 Nov 2002–02 Feb 2003.