Summary

Framed photographic print (also digital file of same image MM 154010), entitled 'Sudan Peace, Australia, 2017,' of former South Sudanese child soldier Bol Akoc Buoi, by Hego (aka Hugh Snelgrove) 2017. This work was a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery National Photographic Portrait Prize, 2018. The photograph was taken at Footscray Train Station, Melbourne as part of Hego's South Sudan Series.

Bol was a child soldier from the age of 11, he arrived as a refugee in Australia in 2003 and is an author, father and MBA graduate. His middle name translates literally to 'peace'. Hego (Hugh Snelgrove) is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Naarm (Melbourne). Hego shares stories and calls people to action with murals, interactive art, photography, zines, collage and documentaries.

Description of Content

Black and white head and shoulders portrait of a young man.

Physical Description

Digital c-type print black and white photograph, framed.

Significance

This photograph and related story of a former Sudanese child soldier and refugee compliments the modest but significant stories of African diaspora in the collection including Nyabana Riek and Bul Akuel Bulkoch (south Sudanese), Nickel Mundabi Ngadwa (Congolese), Atong Atem and Nyadol Nyuon OAM (Ethiopian and south Sudanese), Amelia Sello and Sylvia Boyes Motherwell (South African) and the African Women's Group collection.

The photograph enables the documentation of the tragic narrative of child soldiers in Africa through Bol Alcoc Buoi's (south Sudanese Dinka) story and the refugee migration that has resulted. The photograph itself is a significant work by Sydney and Melbourne street artist Hego, shortlisted for a major Australian photographic prize. It enables the exploration of a collective migration narrative (African diaspora) and the individual narrative of the subject (south Sudan), enabling a strong historical and contemporary story to be developed around it.

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