Suburbs seen in a new light

By Rebecca Fraser
A TALENTED young photographer has captured the streets of Doveton in a bid to explore Australia’s stereotypical view of suburbia.
The creative images of Narre Warren South resident Dale Ackermann have been put on display as part of the Top Arts VCE 2005 event.
The former Berwick Secondary School student is just one of 62 former VCE graduates to have their work showcased at The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square.
The annual event features a variety of media, including painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, textiles, short film and animation, multimedia and digital imagery.
Mr Ackermann said he spent a couple of weekends photographing the streets of Doveton as part of his Year 12 studies.
The 18-year-old said the theme of his portfolio was suburban life and he had wanted to challenge people’s perceptions and attitudes towards suburbia through his images.
“The suburbs are often represented as providing an idyllic lifestyle where young families live in big houses with nice neighbours, have good jobs and big cars in neat driveways. Yet in Australia this stereotypical view of suburbia is often at odds with the majority of people’s experience. I wanted to show a normal street in the suburb of Doveton, which is in a lower economic strata than most suburbs.
“Not all streets have double-storey houses and expensive cars parked out the front under trees laced with foliage – some streets are bare and very poor, yet are still beautiful to someone. Many people’s attitudes about Doveton are not as bright as what they should be,” he said.
Mr Ackermann is now undertaking a Bachelor of Arts degree (Media and Communication) at Deakin University and is majoring in photography and film and video.
In a remarkable twist, Devon Ackermann, Dale’s older brother, received the same award in 2000.
They are the first siblings to have received the Top Arts award since its inception 12 years ago.
Devon has just completed an honours degree after finishing his Bachelor of Fine Art at Monash Caulfield and recently received a two-year scholarship to undertake his Masters degree.
This year, Berwick Secondary College student Whitney Dorothy received an award among top designs and five other students from the college, Stephanie Sam-argis, Sarah Schow, Katie Patten, Andrew Jenner and Jared Shand, were shortlisted. Top Arts is part of the VCE Season of Excellence in Melbourne, a five-month visual and performing arts festival of outstanding VCE students managed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
Top Arts VCE 2005 is on display at The Ian Potter Centre until 16 July and admission is free. The centre is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 10am and 5pm.