Art & Design Forum | Sary Zananiri

Photographing Biblical Modernity: Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine

Note: The venue has been changed to SRWB Seminar Room 3.

Drawing on Zananiri’s new book of the same name, this presentation revisits the extraordinary archive of queer Dutch photographer and Catholic convert Frank Scholten (1881–1942), who documented British Mandate Palestine between 1921 and 1923 as its political structures were being consolidated. Situating Scholten within transnational religious, political, and scholarly networks, it examines how communalism, emergent nationalisms, and queer subjectivity informed his photographic practice. The talk also proposes strategies for reading this complex archive in the present.

Sary Zananiri is an artist and cultural historian whose work explores photography, modernity, and visual culture in the modern Middle East. He is a Senior Lecturer at Monash Art, Design and Architecture, and his research and creative practice utilise visual archives to explore the movement of people, objects, and ideas. Sary is also the Sir William Dobell Fellow for 2026.