Picturing Migrants´ Lives

The research project focuses on photographic representations of Yugoslav labour migrants in Austria of the 1970s and 80s. In this effort, it closes an evident research gap in the Austrian context, since the visual worlds brought forth by this history have not been scientifically examined to date, nor have the photographic sources relating to the topic been systematically processed. The photographic legacy of Yugoslav photographer Jovan Ritopecki (19231989) forms the departure point of this study. In 1966, Ritopecki migrated from Belgrade to Vienna where he established himself as a freelance press photographer in the early 1970s. This first-time critical analysis of his work will investigate how Yugoslav migration was visualised in his photographs and shaped through contemporary societal contexts as well as the ways in which the pictures were used. Ritopecki`s photographic legacy represents an exceptionally rich resource: like no other photographer in Austria, he documented the lives of Yugoslav migrants over a period of twenty years. A further hypothesis in this connection assumes that due to his social positioning, his comprehensive photographic production, the purpose of his work and the manner in which the images were used, Ritopecki`s photographs will provide insights into dimensions of the social and everyday life of Yugoslav labour migrants scarcely taken note of to date, and thus enable a shift in public and scientific perspectives on the history of Yugoslav migration. The study will apply the method of serial-iconographic photography analysis. By investigating central themes and motifs in a historical cross-section, it aims to determine the dominant and historical changes and shifts in Ritopecki`s photographic work as well as to trace their interaction with societal developments. It will be interesting to see in how far Ritopecki`s photographs can be read as a socially critical reflection of the life circumstances of Yugoslav migrants in Austria. Further levels of analysis concern gender-specific aspects of representation, the transcultural and translocal dimension of the photographers production, as well as questions about the creation of identity and community in his pictures in connection with the self-localisation and self-representation of Yugoslav migrants in Austria. This case study intends to make new visual sources accessible to researchers and the public. The digitisation and public presentation of a representative stock of images from Ritopeckis photographic legacy in the virtual Visual Archive Southeastern Europe (VASE https://gams.uni-graz.at/context:vase) forms an integral part of the project. The digital collection will be created in cooperation with the Centre for Information Modelling Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities (ZIM) at the University of Graz.

The research project focused on photographic representations of Yugoslav labor migrants in Austria of the 1970s and 80s. In this effort, it closed an evident research gap in the Austrian context, since the visual worlds brought forth by this history have not been scientifically examined to date, nor have the photographic sources relating to the topic been systematically processed. The work centered on the photographic archive of JovanRitopečki(1923-1989), a Yugoslav photographer who moved from Belgrade to Vienna in 1966 and built a career as a freelance press photographer in Austria. This first comprehensive study of his work examined how Ritopečki's photographs portrayed the Yugoslav diaspora and reflected the social contexts in which they were created and circulated. His archive is an exceptional visual record - he documented the everyday lives of Yugoslav migrants in Austria for two decades. At the time, his images appeared in magazines and newspapers aimed at the Yugoslav community, were bought and exchanged by migrants, and became part of the community's own visual culture. The study shows that these photographs played a significant role in shaping a shared public image, fostering identification, and enabling a sense of belonging. In this way, the project highlights photography's broader function in processes of self-representation and identity formation within migratory contexts. Over the course of the project, about 4,500 negatives and 155 series from Ritopečki's estate were examined, digitized, and analyzed. Most photographs date from the 1970s, his most productive period as a transnational press photographer. For many images, their publication and use could be traced through accompanying materials, allowing insight into how individual photos were selected and adapted for publication and how meanings shifted over time. This reconstruction also illustrates how photographic visibility was created within specific (media) networks serving the migrant community. Ritopečki's position as both photographer and member of Vienna's Yugoslav community gave him unique access and trust within that group. His work was highly appreciated by Yugoslav workers' clubs and the first generation of labor migrants in Austria, who regarded him as their chronicler. His photographs strengthened community ties by making shared activities visible and preserving them in collective memory. Even today, they continue to be used in exhibitions and local histories, contributing to the remembrance culture of labor migration. A curated selection of 103 photo series has been made available in the digital image repository VISMIG (https://gams.uni-graz.at/vismig), developed in collaboration with the University of Graz's Department of Digital Humanities and linked with the Visual Archive of Southeastern Europe (VASE) network.