Playing the Man

Childhood memories were the trigger for Graham Miller’s photographic series Playing the Man.

The playful and humorous images were a celebration of football and a nostalgic look at the past. It referenced Scanlens bubble-gum football cards from the 1970s and 80s, as well as press images from the era, Miller recreated himself as boyhood football heroes to explore issues of masculinity, identity, and cultural difference. Compared to today’s highly stylised and groomed celebrities on Instagram and social media, football luminaries on cards from this period are refreshingly unmanicured. Larrikin grins, dishevelled hair, hammed up poses and indifferent photography coalesce into comical portraits which defy the revered status with which these players were held. Hard men look surprisingly soft.

Miller emphasized this absurdity through the use of masquerade, using it as a strategy to question ingrained ideals of Australian masculinity, and to comment on the difficulties of conforming to traditional notions of 'Australianness' growing up as a person of mixed heritage.