Ponch Hawkes: works from the MGA Collection

Ponch Hawkes: works from the MGA Collection 13 AUGUST–29 SEPTEMBER 2013

Our mums and us 1976 These women have just run twenty-six miles 1982

Our mums and us

Ponch Hawkes took up photography in 1972 while working as a journalist for the counter-cultural magazines Digger and Rolling Stone. In this regard, her approach to photography was from the start informed by a broader interest in consciousness-raising. This is evident in the way she explores specific social contexts over a series of images, and frames her subjects within those contexts.

Hawkes’s best-known series Our mums and us documents a selection of Hawkes’s female contemporaries standing with their mothers. The subjects were each photographed at their family home during the mid-seventies. The photographs record generational shifts in personal style and domestic decor. This series was originally shown at Brummels Gallery of Photography, Melbourne, in 1976, which was Hawkes’s first solo exhibition.

The use of pronouns in the title suggests that Our mums and us was made by women, of women and for women; it is a defiant and celebratory feminist gesture, which foregrounds women as at once independent and connected to each other. Reflecting on the series, Hawkes explains that ‘feminism helped me to understand that my mother was actually a woman too, and not just a mother, and Our mums and us came out of that realisation.’

Margaret and [mum] 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Ponch and Ida 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Ethel and Margot 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Margaret and Micky 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Rosa and Ruth 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Bon and Robin 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Helen and Joan 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Brenda and Flo 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Helen and Gwen 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Mimi and Dany 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Sheila and Janie 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Lorna and Mary 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

Claire and Margot 1976 from the series Our mums and us gelatin silver print 17.7 x 12.7 cm Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection donated by Ian Bracegirdle 2012

These women have just run twenty-six miles

These women have just run twenty-six miles is a series of photographs taken by Hawkes at the finishing line of the 1982 Big M Marathon in Melbourne. The subjects of these portraits have just been sponged down after completing a 42.2 kilometre run. This series was originally published in the feminist art magazine LIP and included in the exhibition Eight women photographers, curated by Jenepher Duncan at Monash University in 1982.

The series reflects Hawkes’s long-standing interest in critiquing sexism in sport and celebrating women’s physicality. In an artist’s statement from 1982, Hawkes explains that ‘until the early 1970s women had not been allowed to participate in long-distance running. Now women of all ages are running in the previously maledominated marathon and catching up to men’s times.’

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Untitled 1982 from the series These women have just run twenty six miles gelatin silver print, printed 2013 18.8 x 12.6 cm intended acquisition

Ponch Hawkes: works from the MGA Collection 13 August–29 September 2013 Author: Stephen Zagala Catalogue design: Mark Hislop Catalogue published by Monash Gallery of Art ISBN: 1 876764 15 5 © Ponch Hawkes, Stepehen Zagala, Monash Gallery of Art This exhibition of Ponch Hawkes’s early-career work acknowledges the generosity of Ian Bracegirdle, who recently donated vintage prints of Our mums and us to the Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash Collection.

MONASH GALLERY OF ART 860 Ferntree Gully Road, Wheelers Hill, VIC 3150 mga@monash.vic.gov.au www.mga.org.au T: 61 3 8544 0500

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