Ponch Hawkes Explained

Ponch Hawkes (born 1946) is an Australian photographer whose work explores intergenerational relationships, queer identity and LGBTQI+ rights, the female body, masculinity, and women at work, capturing key moments in Australia's cultural and social histories.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Early life and education

Hawkes was born in Abbotsford, Victoria, in 1946 and educated at University High School. She is self-taught, having never formally studied photography.[6] Upon returning to Australia from the United States in the early 1970s, Hawkes, who was working as a journalist for the magazine The Digger, took up photography to enhance her journalistic work.

Work

Her work has been included in major Australian exhibitions such as Melbourne Now (2013) at the National Gallery of Victoria and Know My Name (2021/22) at the National Gallery of Australia. Hawke's work is represented in the collections of numerous significant institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, State Library of Victoria, City of Melbourne, Horsham Regional Gallery, Monash Gallery of Art, the Women's Art Register, and the Jewish Museum of Australia.[7] [8] Hawkes has collaborated with the Pram factory and Circus Oz, and was the first administrator of the Women's Theatre Group in the 1970s.[9]

Hawkes' photographic work is broad in its scope, including the portrayal of artists, feminists, sportspeople, public figures and candid street-photographs. The photographs are often exhibited as a series or multiples, and the subjects in the work are often invited to actively participate in the process.http://www.australianphotographers.org/artists/ponch-hawkes Through this method, Hawkes pursues a sustained interest in the way individuals use their bodies and the way individuals relate, through their bodies, to each other.[10] Hawke's first exhibited body of work, the 1976 photo essay Our Mums and Us, featured her female friends and their mothers, among them the writer Helen Garner.[11] More recent projects have explored the ageing female body such as in the monumental work 500 strong (2021),[12] [13] [14] that reclaims bodies from shame, empowers the subjects portrayed, and normalises images of older women.[15] [16] The under-representation of women in politics is explored in the humorous work Changing Faces: Reframing Women in Local Democracy (2020),[17] that depicts 171 local women wearing fake moustaches and beards to challenge gender stereotypes. Hawkes' extensive career is considered an influential part of the Australian feminist art movement. http://www.australianphotographers.org/artists/ponch-hawkes[18]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Publications

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020-10-12 . Landmark queer exhibition coming to NGV . 2022-03-12 . ArtsHub Australia . en-AU.
  2. Book: Hawkes, Ponch . Best mates : a study . 1990 . McPhee Gribble Publishers . 0-86914-173-2 . Melbourne . 22306588.
  3. Web site: Ponch Hawkes: publications AustralianPhotographers.org . 2022-03-12 . www.australianphotographers.org.
  4. News: Woolnough . Damien . August 10, 1998 . Candid Camera . 97 . The Herald-Sun.
  5. Fenelon . Jeannette . 1980 . The Women at Work Kit: a discussion with Judy Munro, Sylvie Shaw and Ponch Hawkes . Lip . 8–11.
  6. Web site: Ponch Hawkes . Melbourne Now . 2013. 1 November 2015 . .
  7. https://ccp.org.au/education/public-programs/2016/ponch-hawkes-making-new-work-2016
  8. Web site: 2020-12-18 . Ponch Hawkes NETS Victoria . 2022-03-12 . netsvictoria.org.au . en-AU.
  9. Web site: Ponch Hawkes AustralianPhotographers.org . 2022-03-12 . www.australianphotographers.org.
  10. News: Burchall . Greg . December 17, 1997 . Snapper takes a digital spin . The Age.
  11. Web site: Ponch and Ida . 2022-03-12 . www.mga.org.au . en.
  12. Web site: Ponch Hawkes—500 Strong Geelong Gallery . 2022-03-12 . www.geelonggallery.org.au.
  13. Web site: O'Brien . Kerrie . 2021-03-07 . Why these women over 50 happily got naked in front of a stranger . 2022-03-12 . The Sydney Morning Herald . en.
  14. Web site: 2021-03-08 . 'Reclaiming women's bodies from shame': a photographic illumination of ageing . 2022-03-12 . The Guardian . en.
  15. News: Delaney . Brigid . March 8, 2021 . 'Reclaiming Women's Bodies from Shame': a photographic illumination of ageing. . The Guardian . March 12, 2022.
  16. Web site: Moosad . Lila . Narrating lives, creating images: Reflections from a photography event . 2022-03-12 . Non Traditional Research Outcomes . en-GB.
  17. Web site: Changing Faces exhibition Bayside City Council . 2022-03-12 . www.bayside.vic.gov.au . en.
  18. Book: Burke, Janine . Field of vision : a decade of change : women's art in the seventies . 1990 . Viking . 0-670-83586-2 . Ringwood, Vic., Australia . 22987043.
  19. Web site: Strange Neighbor exhibition catalogue for KHEM. 11 April 2014. 1 November 2015. Strange Neighbour. Gosper. Linsey.

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