Another piece from my archive

In a previous post I talked ‘gender, journeys and genres (1994).
Another find was The Movement of Women 1996.

It was an exciting time in the early 1990s to see so many women flourish with enthralling artworks. It was an honour to be able feature these women in this article. As I look again at this piece and researched their artworks since, it was wonderful to realise how the 1990s works hold up.

I recall a few turning points in 1982. I was a little huffy when advocates for women suggested even women curators were biased. Then I saw Eric Riddler’s detailed breakdown of collections and saw how few women were included. Affirmative action was in order. Much later at the National Gallery of Australia myself and associate Anne O’Hehir worried about how many women photographers  we were proposing in case we got a raised eyebrow from a board member. We looked at the stats and of course it was not even close to 50%. I realised women would never know  the luxury of centuries of unquestioned dominance by gender.

There are legions of forgotten  past  Australian practitioners see my friend Sally Jackson’s photoria.com.au

I was rather pleased with the re-read of this article and ‘gender, journey and genres’ and hope others find them useful. I do miss regularly dealing with the artist/photographer and having the pleasure to see close-up what they have been doing lately. Long live photography.

Click here for the article — Movement of Women 1996