Loud! presents photographs of women by women. Showcasing work from the Gallery’s photography collection, the exhibition features Australian and international artists Anne Zahalka, Miwa Yanagi, Yvonne Todd and Rosemary Laing. These artists challenge routine depictions of femininity. Their photographs possess comic potential yet also evoke the melancholic and macabre.
Each artist uses photography as a platform for fictive character studies and speculative narratives. They transform their subjects into agents of illusion. Here, the tension between a photograph’s claim to truth and its capacity to manipulate is teased apart. This preoccupation with performance and identity exposes femininity as a fabrication.
Recognising the role photography plays in shaping a collective feminine image, these artists undermine the aesthetics of mainstream media and expose the politics of its deceit. In doing so, they reinstate the authority and individuality of the female subject.
This exhibition coincides with the 40th anniversary of International Women’s Year, 1975.