In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the acclaimed author and art historian Dr Helen Ennis chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Max Dupain: A Portrait, the first biography of the photographer Max Dupain, Australia’s most influential photographer of the 20th century.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
- Helen Ennis’s inspiration for crafting Max Dupain: A Portrait
- How Max Dupain’s photograph ‘The floater’ influenced Helen’s narrative strategy and the biography’s tone
- How Dupain’s character drove the plot
- How the women in Dupain’s life and work were instrumental to his success
- How Helen achieved a fine balance between Dupain’s professional and public life and his human story
- How she reconciled Dupain’s contradictions and complexity to craft a biography characterised by intense psychological closeness
- How she ensured her voice as the narrator didn’t overshadow Dupain’s voice and artistic vision
- The extent to which Helen interpreted Dupain’s character and behaviour versus providing clues and leaving it up to readers to draw their own conclusions.
