Abstract
Australian cameraman Frank Hurley was stationed in the Middle East between 1940 and 1946, initially with the Australian Commonwealth Government’s Department of Information and later with the British Ministry of Information. During that period he estimated that he travelled over 200,000 miles, often with military escorts, filming and photographing not only key military engagements but also peoples and scenery in many countries, including Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Iraq and Iran. Focusing on Hurley’s filming of the British Ministry of Information’s propaganda film, The Road to Russia, in Iraq and Iran in 1944, this paper examines the day-to-day relationships between military occupation and the practices of photography and film-making, especially in so far as they share a common investment in Orientalist dispositions. Drawing on the work of geographer Derek Gregory and film theorist Edward Dimendberg, it identifies three modes in Hurley’s photographs and films: the projection and mastery of centrifugal space, the staging of the Middle East as Orientalist spectacle, and the crisis of spatial mastery.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
