My interpretation

After doing this research into the background of this image, Olympia as Lewis Carroll's Xie Kitchin as a Chinaman (off duty) has found new meaning for me. When I first examined the structure and set up, I imagined it was something to do with Papapetrou's heritage, that maybe she had some kind of Chinese background that she was trying to pay homage to. But now that I found she was re-staging the works of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in his photos of Xie Kitchin in the late 1800's, the photo has taken on a whole new meaning.

I feel as if Papapetrou is trying to present issues that relate to herself and Olympia. Having worked with her daughter for many - if not most - of her projects, the artist seems to have developed her work into a combination of childhood fantasy and adult behaviours. This is very clear in this photo in particular. As I mentioned before, she may have been trying to make the audience consider how inventive Olympia's imagination was with the use of a clearly fake backdrop. Using the quite adult-looking costuming and posing, it makes me feel like she is wanting us to compare the girl's porcelain features to the quite grown-up surroundings.

Something else that is present is perhaps the desire for Papapetrou to see herself in the image. This was brought up by Rex Butler in his article "On Polixeni Papapetrou". He states:

"What Papapetrou is fundamentally looking at, what she is trying to find, is herself looking back. And what more profound disguise than one's own daughter?"

I think it's quite possible that the artist was attempting to represent her own childhood - and possibly her  adulthood - by using the gaze of her daughter. In the image, she was trying to convey that sense of knowing where her life was going and how adulthood can be pushed upon children. Butler also adds: 

"When one looks at one's child, is it oneself or it is another staring back?"

 Could Papapetrou be trying to inflict her personal life onto that of her daughter's? Could she be trying to show the audience how her own mind works using a child's innocent face?
Either way, being able to do this research has enabled me to see a different side to Olympia as Lewis Carroll's Xie Kitchin as a Chinaman (off duty). And, at the conclusion of my assignment, I have learned to appreciate it much more than I did when I saw it in Geelong Gallery so many times!



Butler R 2001 "Polixeni Papapetrou", 2001, viewed October 6, 2012, http://polixenipapapetrou.net/text.php?txt=RB_PolixeniPapapetrou&cat=On_Polixeni_Papapetrou