Alienation and Intimacy: Transnational Writing on Julia Margaret Cameron

This chapter describes an Israeli author’s writing experience of Julia Margaret Cameron’s biography. Scrutinising existing archival material on the notable Victorian photographer, she tries understanding the roots of her artistic cravings. Interweaving her journey in the footsteps of Cameron with existing archival knowledge, she reveals—regardless of historical, cultural and national disparities—interesting similarities between their artistic passions, aesthetic preferences and repeated experiences of discrimination as women by the patriarchal art world. Yet her sense of closeness to Cameron is often interrupted by feelings of alienation due to cultural and national boundaries that prevent her from comprehending Cameron’s life and artistic choices. The chapter suggests a way to conceptualise this transnational writing, contending that despite the complexities, such biographies provide new insights into artists’ lives.