Fiona Shewan

This project concerns the Otago shipwreck that lies on the shores of the Derwent River in Hobart. It is not widely known that this ship was once commanded by the author Joseph Conrad. It was also the last ship he sailed before leaving the marine service and devoting his life to writing.

 

Conrad documents much of his experience as Master of the Otago in his 1915 novel The Shadow Line which is about man’s transition from youth to maturity. This project is concerned with the novel’s relationship to fidelity, given Conrad initially claimed it was autobiographical and the lack of any strong evidence of character aside from what is considered masculine.

 

The artwork focuses on the discrepancies between Conrad’s representation of the events surrounding the previous captain’s death in the novel and what transpired in real life. In the novel, the Otago is continually alluded to as a female vessel a man steers. The female characters are factitious and have nothing to do with what transpired in real life. 

 

Blending imagination with memory, the project explores issues concerning identity, gender and truth. The project is made up of a series of videos and photo imagery that explore these themes. The videos were composed using Super 8 film, 35mm scans, and digital video.

 

Conrad’s captaincy of the Otago began in 1888 not long after the invention of the steamship which led to a significant shift in maritime culture and production. This global shift in technology also led to different ways of conceiving perspective. 

 

Blending somewhat obsolete photographic technologies with digital, the work highlights the cultural and spiritual shifts in knowledge brought about by technological developments. While some videos evoke the diary film genre through voiceover, others use subtitles and text to voice transcripts from archival letters between A.T. Saunders and Joseph Conrad’s novel.

 

A.T. Saunders was an amateur historian from South Australia who was a great admirer of Joseph Conrad's writing. They developed a friendship over letters regarding the lack of fidelity in his novels.

 

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