Recovering the Past: A Photographic Exhibition by Ian Alderman

Abstract

In this article I argue that, like textiles, photography can be a way to ‘stitch voices’ together. The article is based on an interview with the photographer Ian Alderman and a review of his travelling exhibition Recovering the Past. In his photographs, Alderman superimposes black and white images of groups of Australian soldiers who fought during the Great War and colour images of contemporary deminers during their daily work in the fields of West Flanders. As with conflict textiles, Alderman’s photographic ‘collages’ create objects that draw attention to the immediate and long-term consequences of war. Because of this focus on the effects of war, his photographs can be considered as ‘aftermath photography’. This article first introduces commonalities between photography and textiles. Then, it presents some of the exhibition photographs, connecting them with themes that emerged from the interview.