Teacher and head curator at PSC, Julie Wajs takes a fresh approach to curating an exhibition for one of the most important days of the year. For our 'Women in Photography' focus this month, she gives us an insight into the care taken to organise 'Our Stories... Our Vision...' . This is a celebration of International Women's Day with works selected by PSC's talented pool of female photographers. These are currently being exhibited at the Queen Victoria Women's centre.
Here are Julie's thoughts about the event and her approach to curating the exhibition:
For International Women’s Day our exhibition at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre had to be a selection of work by our female students across different majors of the college. It’s always good to have a bit of a mix in the scheme of things stylistically, especially in such a public space that has a historical aspect to it. We were very conscious of the fact that the centre supports women in all areas of life; both politically and emotionally, and the work chosen for this had to be reflective of that. There’s always a sense of responsibility when putting any exhibition together – you definitely have to be sensitive to the space you’re in.
Selecting some of the bigger pieces of work by students and graduates, the subject matter in each series deals with personal, political and fashion-related issues in some way, mirroring the perspective of women.
What makes this exhibition interesting is the fact that it ranges across students who study full time and part time at PSC, which means that we are looking at work produced by a cross section of different generations. It’s a great way to see how a wide age group approaches certain topics differently, or sometimes in very similar ways.
I hope those who come to the exhibition are provoked into engaging with the work and having an opinion about them. It’s important for us to get people to think about some of the aspects that these photographs are touching upon.
To be a part of the exhibition, visit the Queen Victoria Women's Centre on 210 Lonsdale Street, on 9th March at 6pm. You can hear more about Julie's process of curating here.
