Liz Ham (born 1975) is an English-born Australian photographer based in
Sydney, Australia. Ham has photographed urban life, fashion, music and politics for years and in 2017 published a photography book called ''Punk Girls''. Some of Ham's photographs have been purchased and archived by
Australia National Libraries as representations of the
culture of Australia
The culture of Australia is primarily a Western culture, originally derived from Britain but also influenced by the unique geography of Australia and the cultural input of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other Australian people. The Br ...
.
Career
Ham is one of Australia's contemporary photographers "who often works overseas".
Ham began photographing when she was 14, then studied photography at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney.
Since then she has documented life in Australia with her photos, from city dwelling, to fashion,
to ballet, and punk rock
for 20 years. Her work is editorial in nature, portrait, and for advertisers.
Ham 'has thrived in the male-dominated industry of fashion photography'
but "social advocacy is her motivating factor" as she captures images, using her
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is a professional-grade 22.3 megapixels full-frame digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera made by Canon.
Succeeding the EOS 5D Mark II, the Mark III was announced on 2 March 2012. This date coincided with the 25th a ...
and a 4×5 rangefinder Polaroid conversion camera.
Her photographs have appeared in ''Vogue'', ''Elle'', ''Russh'', ''Oyster'', ''Dazed & Confused'' and ''i-D''.
Exhibitions
In 2000, Ham exhibited her work at Stills Gallery,
in 2013 at the Sydney Photographer's Exhibition,
and in 2018 at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney.
Selected awards
Ham has received the following awards for her work.
* Yen Young Woman of the Year Award for Photography
* The National Youth Media Award
* The CCP/Leica Documentary Photography Award
Photographic collections
Fashion
Ham has done work for Oyster magazine
and in 2009, ''
Teddy Girls'' images by Ham were published by Oyster
and then in ''Art Monthly Australia'' in 2010.
Ham has photographed for ''Vogue Australia''.
Design Scene magazine featured a
retro style
Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...
photo shoot by Ham entitled ''The Apple of My Eye''.
Culture of Australia
In 1997 Ham photographed
bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
dancer
Vali Myers.
To represent the
culture of Australia
The culture of Australia is primarily a Western culture, originally derived from Britain but also influenced by the unique geography of Australia and the cultural input of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other Australian people. The Br ...
, Ham has photographed people she knows in their natural daily environment, using
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
*Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a move ...
and
social documentary photography
Social documentary photography or concerned photography is the recording of what the world looks like, with a social and/or environmental focus. It is a form of documentary photography, with the aim to draw the public's attention to ongoing social ...
.
Archived
Some of her photographs have been purchased and archived by the
State Library of New South Wales and by the
State Library of Victoria.
The collections archived by Australian state libraries relate to ordinary people in Sydney doing regular things: urban life, people at work,
and dance,
hairdressing, and shopping.
Publications
Ham spent years working on ''Punk Girls'', a
photo-book
A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book.
Early
Early photo books are characterized by their use o ...
featuring portraits of women, many of her friends, in
punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed ...
. It began as a
punk zine
A punk zine (or punkzine) is a zine related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, they feature punk literature, such as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and arti ...
but was published in 2017 by Manuscript Daily.
Discrimination against the punk rock subculture is explored with her photographs in the book; these ''girls'' who are different, but beautiful in their difference.
In 2014 Ham self-published a limited edition of ''Eastern Suburbs Girls'', a small 56-page photo-book showing what it might have been like "growing up in the
Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia in the 1980s and 1990s."
Personal life
Born in London in 1975, she emigrated with her parents to Sydney in 1980.
Ham lives with her husband and two children in Sydney.
References
External links
Liz Ham Punk Girl Archive on TumblerManuscript Magazine Liz Ham PhotosLiz Ham talking about her Punk Girls project on Vimeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Liz
Artists from Sydney
1975 births
Living people
Australian feminists
Australian women photographers
Photographers from London
British emigrants to Australia