Sue Ford: A Survey 1960-1995

About the exhibition
This first survey exhibition of artist Sue Ford’s work was curated by Helen Ennis, who has written extensively on the artist and Australian photography in general. Tracking the first thirty-five years of Ford’s practice, the earliest works ground her formation as an experimental photographer, feminist and member of the Reel Women collective in 1960s Melbourne. Expanding beyond photography, the exhibition also represented Ford’s significant work in film and video, drawing, painting, and laser printing, featuring Woman in a House,1972—one of the earliest feminist films made in Australia. Later works included in the exhibition were dominated by references to the events of the 1988 bicentenary and informed by Ford’s time spent working with Tiwi women on Bathurst Island. Presenting a variety of mediums and spanning three decades, the exhibition demonstrated that Ford maintained a consistent engagement with social and political issues, and the past—‘bound up with her interest in time and, more specifically, change’.

Acknowledgements
This exhibition was assisted by the institutional lenders National Gallery of Australia and National Gallery of Victoria, and the generous sponsorship of Fini Pty Ltd.

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^{Image: Sue Ford, Photogram (two hands and path) c.1970, gelatin silver photograph, 27.4 x 34.6 cm. Collection of the artist}