Taariq Mamun 
“A True Australian” 
Murdoch University I Creative Academy 
Photography Major (third year) 
 
Printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art 
 
$145 AUD 
Includes GST & postage within Australia 
 
Artist Statement / Description of artwork 
 My work is a discussion around the “true Australian”, and the mythologised rural Australian identity. As a first-generation Australian of Anglo-Asian descent, I wanted to subvert the modernist visual codes that built these preconceptions. The work approaches how rural identity has been constructed for a narrow, Anglo-Celtic, masculine ideal. Through a series of self-portraiture and landscapes of my hometown (Bindoon), presented as diptychs, I aim to challenge earlier representations of masculinity (such as those by Max Dupain). My contribution to this visual tradition looks to honour Australia’s history while exposing its exclusions, broadening the conversation around belonging, migration, masculinity, and the significance of place. In an effort to explore my belonging and relationship to rural Australia, each diptych in this series studies the shared light and form between the landscape and self-portraits. It’s my hope that this work will resonate with those in isolated areas whose stories lie outside the conventional frame.