Ponch Hawkes (born 1946) is an Australian photographer whose work explores intergenerational relationships, queer identity and

LGBTQI+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

rights, the female body, masculinity, and women at work, capturing key moments in Australia's cultural and social histories.

Early life and education

Hawkes was born in

Abbotsford, Victoria Abbotsford ( wyi, Carran-carramulk) is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra Local government a ...

, in 1946 and educated at University High School. She is self-taught, having never formally studied photography. 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 The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

and Know My Name (2021/22) at the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

. Hawke's work is represented in the collections of numerous significant institutions including the

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Gallery ...

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

City of Melbourne The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2018, the city has an area of and had a population of 169,961. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. The ci ...

, Horsham Regional Gallery, Monash Gallery of Art, the

Women's Art Register The Women’s Art Register is Australia's living archive of women's art practice (cis and trans inclusive or gender diverse). It is a national artist-run, not-for-profit community and resource in Melbourne, Australia. Foundation The Women's Art ...

, and the

Jewish Museum of Australia The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum, aims to "explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia". It is located in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne. History The Jewish Museum of Australia was estab ...

. Hawkes has collaborated with the

Pram factory __NOTOC__ The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until the 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group ...

and

Circus Oz Circus Oz is a contemporary circus company based in Australia, collectively owned by its Membership, founded in 1977. Its shows incorporate theatre, satire, rock 'n' roll and a uniquely Australian humour. History Early years Circus Oz was inco ...

, and was the first administrator of the Women's Theatre Group in the 1970s. 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 proces

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. 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 Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her as an origina ...

. More recent projects have explored the ageing female body such as in the monumental work ''500 strong'' (2021), that reclaims bodies from shame, empowers the subjects portrayed, and normalises images of older women. The under-representation of women in politics is explored in the humorous work ''Changing Faces: Reframing Women in Local Democracy'' (2020)'','' 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

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* ''500 Strong'',

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional art gallery, gallery in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collectio ...

Shepparton Art Museum The Shepparton Art Museum is an art Museum in Shepparton, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It holds one of Australia's most significant collections of Australian ceramics. It is host to the ''Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award (S ...

, curated by Jane Scott, 2022 * ''Changing Faces'',

Bayside City Council The City of Bayside is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It is within the southern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 36 square kilometres and in 2018 had a population of 105,718 people. History City of Brighton In 1858, a ...

Chambers, Melbourne, 2020 * ''Our Mums and Us and These Women have Just Run 26 Miles'',

Monash Gallery of Art The City of Monash is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5 square kilometres and a population of 200,077 people in 2016. Demographics Monash has a diverse pop ...

, Melbourne, Australia, 2013 *''Eros, Philos and Agape'',

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

, 2012 *''Basil Sellers Creative Arts Fellow'',

National Sports Museum The Australian Sports Museum (formerly the National Sports Museum) is a museum dedicated to Australian sport and is located within the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. There are exhibits for sports such as cricket, Australian ...

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

, 2011–12 *''More seeing is NOT Understanding'', Monash Gallery of Art,

Brisbane Powerhouse Brisbane Powerhouse is an arts and cultural hub located in a former power station in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm, Queensland, Australia. The venue offers an array of performing arts, visual arts, festivals, and free community events. The fir ...

, Portland, Redlands Qld, Albury, 2009 *''Seeing Is Not Understanding'', Horsham Regional Gallery, 2009 *''Trading Places'', Heritage Hill Museum, Dandenong and Immigration Museum, Melbourne, 2006 *''Risk'', Monash Gallery of Art, 2005 *''Sensation'', Chrysalis Gallery, East Melbourne, 2005 *''They're downstairs'', North Melbourne Arts House, 2003 *''Todah'', Jewish Museum, St Kilda, Melbourne, 2001 *''St Vincent’s at Home'', Aikenhead Gallery, Melbourne 1999 *''Relatively Speaking'', The Family in Words and Pictures, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney, and

Centre for Contemporary Photography The Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, is a venue for the exhibition of contemporary photo-based arts, providing a context for the enjoyment, education, understanding and appraisal of contemporary practic ...

, Melbourne, 1998 *''Photoworks'', Victoria University Gallery, Melbourne, 1997 *''Circus Oz'', Performing Arts Museum Collection, Westpac Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, 1997 *''Best Mates'', William Mora Gallery, Melbourne, 1990 *''Generations'',

, Melbourne, 1989 *''Circus Oz in Performance'',

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

Gallery and

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

, Sydney, 1981 *''Our Mums and Us'',

Brummels Gallery Brummels Gallery in South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia, was a commercial gallery established by David Yencken in 1956 to exhibit contemporary Modernist Australian painting, sculpture and prints, but after a period of dormancy became best known in ...

, Melbourne 1976

Selected group exhibitions

* ''Flesh After Fifty, Changing Images of Older Women in Art,'' Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, Australia, 2021 * ''Photography Meets Feminism: Australian women photographers 1970s–80s'', A Monash Gallery of Art travelling exhibition, 2014–2015 * ''Beyond Borders'', MAP Group, Ballarat International Photo Biennale, 2015 * ''Melbourne Now''

, 2013–2014 * ''KHEM'', Strange Neighbour, Melbourne, Curated by Linsey Gosper, April 11 – May 3, 2014 * ''Take A Bow'', Ballarat Mechanics Institute, 2013 *''Mining The Collection'', Albury City Gallery, 2011 *''Brummels'', Monash Gallery of Art, 2011 *''Mapping Ballarat'', Ballarat Foto Biennale, 2011 *''Basil Sellers Art prize'', (finalist)

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be con ...

, 2011 *''Timelines'',

, 2011 *''Mapping Ballarat'', Ballarat International Foto Biennale, 2009 *''Beyond Reasonable Drought'', Old Parliament House, Canberra and touring, 2007 *''Raised by Wolves'',

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

, 2006 *''Julie Millowick Aquisitive Prize'', Castlemaine Festival (winner), 2006 *''Murray Cod: The Biggest Fish in the River'', Swan Hill Gallery and 5 other venues, 2006 *''Blake prize for Religious Art'' (finalist), 2006 *''Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photographic Award'',

Gold Coast City Art Gallery The Gold Coast City Art Gallery was a regional Art museum located in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Opened in 1986, the Gallery was part of HOTA, Home of the Arts (formerly known as the Gold Coast Art Centre) whic ...

(finalist), 2006 *''Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture'',

Tweed River Art Gallery Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre is a regional art gallery in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia. ''Lonely Planet Australia'' describes it as "an exceptional gallery... home to some of Australia's finest in a variety of med ...

, Murwillumbah (finalist), 2006 *''Making Hay at Shear Outback Center'', Hay, NSW, and Span Galleries, Melbourne, 2006 *''The Interior World: photographs and photographers from Glen Eira City Council's Collection'', Glen Eira City Gallery, Caulfield South, Melbourne, 2004 *''Documenting Australians, A pictorial history of Australian photography'', Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, 2002 *''Images of Australian Men, Photographs from the Monash Gallery of Art collection'', travelling exhibition, 2002 *''Exhibit X'' – Group Photographic Exhibition, Lab X Gallery, St Kilda, 2002 *''So You Wanna Be a Rock Star'', National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2002 *''Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives'',

Melbourne Museum The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of t ...

, touring 10 venues, 2001 *''Woman Photographers'', Monash City Gallery, 2000 *''Feminist Art'', RMIT First Line Gallery Melbourne, 1999 *''Three Melbourne Photographers'', Ballarat Festival, Ballarat, 1997 *''The Power to Move'', ''Aspects of Australian Photography'',

, Brisbane, 1996 *''Six Photographers'', Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney, 1995 *''On the Edge, Australian Photographers of the Seventies'', from the collection of the

National Library Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

, San Diego, 1994 *''All in the family – Selected Australian Portraiture'', National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1994 *''Domain of the Other'',

, Melbourne, 1992 *''Defective Models – Australian Portraiture 19th and 20th Centuries'', ''from regional, university and private collections'', Monash University Gallery, 1990 *''Portrait Photography'', National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1989 *''The Thousand Mile Stare'', Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne, touring Art and Working Life, Roar Studios, Melbourne, 1988 *''Shades of Light – Photography and Australia 1839 to 1988'', Australian National Gallery, 1988 *''Living in the Seventies'', Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1986 *''Australian Photographers'', Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1984 *''Photographic Work'', Perc Tucker Gallery, Townsville The Critical Distance,

Artspace Sydney Artspace, officially Artspace Visual Arts Centre, formerly stylised ARTSPACE Visual Arts Centre, is a leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo, fronting Sydney Harbou ...

, 1983 *''Melbourne Theatre Photographers'', Ministry for the Arts, Melbourne, 1982 * ''Eight Woman Photographers'', Monash University Gallery, Melbourne and Developed Image, Adelaide, 1981 *''Woman's Work'',

Gallery, Melbourne, 1981 *''Self Portrait/Self Image'',

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

, Melbourne and touring, 1980 *''100 Artists'', Panel Beaters Gallery, Melbourne, 1978 *''New Conceptualists'', Tokyo, 1977 *''Sister’s Delight'', Media Resource Centre Gallery, Adelaide, 1977 *''Woman Photographers'', Pram Factory, Melbourne, 1976

Publications

*''Beyond Reasonable Drought'', The Map Group of Photographers, Five Mile Press, 2009 *''Trading Places'', text by David Crofts, photos by Ponch Hawkes, City of Greater Dandenong,2006 *''Art of Reconciliation'', edited by Ponch Hawkes, City of Melbourne, 2002 *''Australian Water Polo, A Celebration'', by Shane Maloney and Ponch Hawkes, Australian Water Polo Inc. 1998 *''Women of Substance'', Sue Jackson and Gael Wallace with photographs by Ponch Hawkes, Allen and Unwin, 1998 *''Unfolding: The Story of the Australian and New Zealand AIDS Quilt Projects'', by Ponch Hawkes with text by Ainsley Yardley and Kim Langley, McPhee Gribble, 1994 *''Best Mates, A Study of Male Friendship'', by Ponch Hawkes, McPhee Gribble and Penguin Books, 1990 *''Generations: Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters'', by Diane Bell with Ponch Hawkes, McPhee Gribble & Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1987 *''Pay to Play'', by Wendy Milson, Helen Thomas and Ponch Hawkes, Penguin,1976

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkes, Ponch Living people 1946 births Australian women artists Australian photographers