To celebrate International Women's Day, Common Ground and Photography Studies College is hosting an all women round table chaired by Common Ground contributor, Christine McFetridge.
With a line up of panelists including Director of the Centre for Contemporary Photography Naomi Cass, gallerist Daine Singer, artist and Director of Strange Neighbour Linsey Gosper, photographers/artists Ponch Hawkes and Peta Clancy, and Common Ground Issue 05 artist Hoda Afshar, join us at the Photography Studies College for an evening of discussion on the underrepresentation of women in photo-media.
Here is a quick run through of our speakers:
Hoda Afshar:
Hoda Afshar (PSC teacher and the National Photographic Portrait prize winner) doesn’t often think about gender , nor allows it to play a major role in her way of thinking as she photographs or teaches.
Shifting between documentary and fine art photography, Hoda is drawn to creating art that combines both of these languages. According to her, there is a strong element of documentary in fine art photography, as the way people pose or behave in front of the camera, reveals how they wish to represent themselves to the pubic. In this light, Hoda strives to explore the notion of truth in the act of photography.
Thinking about how certain people in her life have inspired her in her work, Hoda feels good about partaking in the passion and love for art, along with her students. She loves the process of sharing this part of her life with people in her class, who are as interested in photography as she is, and who produce such eclectic styles of work.
Hoda is interested in art that acts as an agent in shaping the imagination of the public. She has a special regard for photography and artwork that tackles important issues of the time, and that finds a way of expressing new ideas to audiences.
Naomi Cass:
Daine Singer:
Daine Singer is the owner of the Daine Singer Art Space in the CBD. She worked as as gallery manager at Anna Schwartz, associate curator at Experimenta Utopia Now: International Biennial of Media Art (curatorium, touring Australia 2010-2011), Dream Weavers (CAST Gallery, Hobart 2010), Draw the Line: the Architecture of Lab (National Gallery of Victoria 2009), The Nauru Elegies (DJ Spooky and Annie K Kwon, Experimenta at Blindside and Shed 4, 2010) and Big Screen Shorts (Federation Square 2010). She has also held positions including Gallery Manager at Anna Schwartz Gallery, Associate Curator at Experimenta Media Arts, and Curator at the Museum of Chinese Australian History.
Ponch Hawkes:
Ponch Hwkes is a Melbourne based photographic artist who has had work featured in the Australian National Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria, the State Library of Victoria and served as a photographer for the Victorian Women’s Trust. With her own commercial studio in North Melbourne, she has a prolific portfolio of her own based on assignments in Cambodia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Holland, England and the USA, amongst other countries. Much of her work focuses on personal relationships, and the lives and achievements of women
Peta Clancy:
Peta Clancy’s selected solo exhibitions have been included at Performance Space, Sydney (in collaboration with Helen Pynor) (2011); Dominik Mersch Gallery (2009 & 2007), Sydney; Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (2007); Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, UK (2005); Platform Public Contemporary Art Spaces (2001); Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Studio 12 (1997); and Centre for Contemporary Photography (1995). Clancy’s selected group exhibitions include Controversy: The Power of Art, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (2012) and Imagining the Everyday, Pingyao International Photography Festival, China (2010).
