It is often said that we can learn from the generations that precede us.
In Australia, the work of women photographers was often disregarded or ignored
compared to the colourful history of the globe-trotting, war-covering Aussie male photographers.
In Australia, the work of women photographers was often disregarded or ignored
compared to the colourful history of the globe-trotting, war-covering Aussie male photographers.
Emerging in recent years, are bodies of work being exhibited and published of women photographers who were shooting closer to home in the past 30-50 years.
Several wonderful exhibitions on around Sydney at the moment feature the insightful perspectives of women photographers. The exhibitions range from subject matter that is outward looking as well as projects that are like autobiographical reflections in a mirror. In particular, two exhibitions at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, located in Gymea in the southern suburbs of Sydney are a must-see before June 24th 2012.
The exquisite, intimate prints by photographers Sue Ford and Ingeborg Tyssen are a highlight of the Head On Photography Festival. Sue Ford’s “Time Machine” with self-portraits from 1960-2006, as well as her 1960’s & 1970’s portraits of women struck a deep chord within me. Somehow, I think they would have been pleased to see a female photographer wheeling a sleeping child in a pram around the gallery, relating to and soaking up inspiration from the feminist perspective of their own stolen moments.
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| Axel, my son & muse, at the exhibition. |
One of Ford’s exhibition placards reads:
“Ford’s interest in self-portraiture was complex and informed by
various concerns. Central to these concerns was the fact that
self-portraiture can be produced without needing to rely on others.
Ford regularly commented on the restrictions that face many female
artists: family commitments, economic constraints or lack of access to
networks, technology and expertise. Throughout the history of women’s
art, Ford noted, these factors have often limited women to using their
immediate environment as source material for their work. Ford often
used herself as the basis of her work, not simply because it was
expedient, but also because in doing so she inserted herself into the
history of women’s practice and illuminated its distinctive features.”
In the next room, “Ingeborg Tyssen: Photographs” was published as a monograph (T&G Publishing) by her photographer husband John Williams as a loving tribute to her life and work following her tragic accidental death in 2002. Tyssen’s work spans several genres, however, her photographs of people in the urban environment are the most powerful in this exhibition. Her black and white street photography from the 1970’s and 1980’s are, in my opinion, nothing short of extraordinary. Her images in public spaces and swimming pools in streams of light present as beautifully stark and candid moments that withstand the test of time. Photography critic Robert McFarlane wrote “… an artist using black and white photography had been able to almost sculpt figures in light from the enveloping seemingly impenetrable, darkness to underscore the sense of urban isolation of busy cities….”
Sadly, both women have passed away and I never met them. However, I feel a deep and soulful empathy with them after viewing these prints. I wonder after seeing the exhibition, whose imagery in my own generation of women photographers will endure the years and resonate with the next.
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